Unexpected Expecting
by Tatiana K
Summary: Izabelle is pregnant and she and Hank face the usual and less usual joys and stresses of this. But a dark mystery begins to unfold around the baby and the plans of a mysterious mutant group, the Morlocks. Plans in which Izabelle and Hank are only pawns. Finished!
1. Chapter 1: A Beginning

**Chapter 1: A Beginning**

"I swear the next person who touches my belly without asking my permission will lose a hand," Izabelle growled furiously to her husband, Dr. Hank McCoy.

"Patience, love. You can't go around pulling arms off of old ladies in the supermarket," he replied calmly, with a wry smile on his lips.

"Smirk all you want," she sulked, tucking her short hair behind one ear, "No one's touching _you_." Hank had taken to wearing his holowatch when he went outside of the mansion and Izabelle nodded at it pointedly.

"Hey Hank." Logan's familiar brusque greeting came from behind them. "Izabelle. Baby." His hand stretched toward her bulging stomach and she grabbed his wrist sharply. Her death threat caught on her lips though. Logan was smiling at her; he had overheard her talking to Hank.

"Very funny, Logan," she replied, releasing his hand. She gave him a tense smile and walked on ahead of the two men.

"She was calmer before," Logan remarked grinning.

"She had to when her mutation was in full swing. And the hormones make her edgy." Hank grinned sideways at Logan. "Or so I tell myself."

Logan laughed quietly and they followed after Izabelle.

* * *

><p>Hank and Izabelle had been married for over a year and a half when they learned of Izabelle's pregnancy.<p>

They had married soon after Hank's impromptu proposal in Wal-Mart. The ring he bought her was phenomenal, a white gold band swirling with sparkling diamonds.

"_Do you think he will ask you for real?" Kitty asked. _

"_You can never tell with him," Izabelle murmured, failing to suppress her smile. _

"_You know! You know it's coming! When?" _

"_Soon." Izabelle grinned and said goodbye to a hopelessly antsy Kitty. _

_That night had included a surprise journey to the city and a fun retro fondue restaurant. Izabelle had waited through all of dinner but nothing happened. She waited through a walk in Central Park and to a lantern festival. And yet Hank had still been able to surprise her. _

"_Buy a lantern?" a woman had asked them._

"_Gladly!" Hank replied looking through various glowing lanterns. "What do they mean?" _

"_Well, this one means love," the woman had passed him a peach lantern with blossoms painted on it. _

_Hank paid for the lantern and they had wandered over to the nearby pond to let it free. _

"_But what is this?" _

_Hank had pulled, seemingly from nowhere, a gorgeous ring, glittering in the light of the lanterns. He had proposed "for real" and Izabelle had said yes, again._

* * *

><p>Hank had been impressed with her capacity for wedding planning. The wedding had come together easily and naturally in Izabelle's own hands, though she was by no means on her own. Their friends throughout the mansion were thrilled to have a wedding among them and joined in with the dress fitting and cake tasting and all the details Hank felt blessed to not have to take part in. There were a few he wanted to be party to but had been banned from, however.<p>

_Izabelle spun around inside the dressing room and Magma gave a delighted squeal. _

"_Get out here and show us!" Roberto called out. _

"_It's perfect!" Magma called back, deliberately playing up the suspence. _

_The door swung open and Izabelle rushed out to show her friends. _

"_Ta da!" _

_They were able to keep a straight face for about 10 seconds before the group burst into gales of laughter. _

"_That is so perfect!" Tabitha crowed springing up with Izabelle's camera._

"_This is the ugliest thing I have ever worn!" laughed Izabelle. The dress had a train that felt as if it were miles long in ivory lace. She was covered head to toe in the stuff and the puffy sleeves brushed her ears. There were giant buttons up the torso of the dress and it ended in a high, buttoned collar. _

"_I've saved the best for last in both categories though," Izabelle grinned. _

"_You would have had a hard time topping this for hideousness," Sam smirked. _

"_I'll take this one," Tabitha offered handing of the camera to Amara, who squeezed onto the store couch between Roberto and Sam. _

_It felt like years before they heard from Tabitha and Izabelle again. And they had been unusually quiet the whole time. Finally, Boom-Boom reappeared. _

"_I think this is it!" she whispered excitedly._

_Izabelle walked out to them and they knew for a fact that this was her dress._

_The dress was very fitted, strapless, and flared out into a short train. But the key feature of the dress was the waist, wrapped from under the bust to above the hips in a deep blue that perfectly matched Hank's fur. The whole thing was covered over in a layer of lace and another trailing ribbon in the same blue. _

_It was perfect._

When all was said and done, the couple was married outside, in the grove in which they had first kissed, under paper lanterns and the stars. The whole mansion was invited and the wedding party was worthy of the X-Men.

As a wedding gift, the X-Men had pitched in for a honeymoon in Europe. The newlyweds chose Budapest and Bratislava and were gone for two weeks. When they returned it was as Henry McCoy and Izabelle Rowan McCoy.

* * *

><p>A year and a half later from that date Izabelle gave voice to a change she had noticed and a test was bought.<p>

"_What's the result, Izabelle?"_

_She held the plastic wand out to him. _

"_Blue. Pregnant." _

_They both stood in their bedroom, taking in the news._

_The couple had not been trying to become pregnant, but they had not been avoiding it either. They were both beyond their mid-thirties and certain feelings had been entertained about having children. _

"_We'll be parents, Izabelle."_

_She looked deep into his eyes and a smile spread across her face. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly to him. _

_It wasn't a moment of loud screaming as it is for some; their moment was one of quiet acceptance and deep joy._

They had talked, after three months of waiting, about how to break the news to their friends. It was Izabelle who ended up initiating the rather ridiculous plan. It had required breaking the news to Iceman early but this was no loss as he was Hank's closest friend.

The temperature had risen into pleasant summer weather, before the inferno of July and August, and the pool had become a popular spot for the students and faculty. So the word BABY! in letters of ice across the surface of the pool had been an instant success and the whole school was aware by lunch that Hank and Izabelle were pregnant.

* * *

><p>Now Izabelle was five months pregnant, very visibly so, and some of the charms of pregnancy were wearing thin. The summer heat seemed to amplify every natural side effect of pregnancy and Izabelle began to dispair that she could make it through four more months.<p>

Hank fought hard to support his wife in every way he could imagine and this made all of the difference for Izabelle. He kept things light and adored her all the more for her bizarre new body.

"_I have kankles."_

"_You have lovely legs and ankles." _

"_You aren't denying it."  
>"I do not have to deny every crazy statement that utters from my wife's lips." A smile grew across Hank's face as he read his article. <em>

_Izabelle stared disappointedly at her swollen ankles and turned her attention to her belly. "And stretch marks. I'm only four months along, Hank."_

_Neither spoke about the scars on her back and leg anymore, but both were grateful that they did not cross her belly where the skin needed to stretch._

_Hank looked over his glasses at her. "I see nothing."_

"_Maybe if you actually looked through your glasses," she teased, pushing them up on his nose. _

_Hank gave a dramatic sigh. "My dear, if you cannot be quiet I shall have to take drastic matters to prove you wrong."_

"_There is no way you could-" _

_Without another warning, Hank tossed his magazine to the side, rolled over in bed, and passionately kissed Izabelle. _

_Pajamas softly fell to the floor as they wrapped themselves around one another. _

* * *

><p>One odd side effect of her pregnancy was what it had done to her powers. Izabelle was one of the first mutant pregnancies that Hank had dealt with directly and the nature of her powers led to unpredictability in their strength. Some days she could practically sweep Charles' memory and other days it was as if her powers were not even there.<p>

It was unclear what her powers would be like after the baby was born and this alarmed Izabelle, though she internalized it for the time being. She seriously doubted that Hank's love for her had anything to do with her being a mutant and it did not seem fair to question this.

One thing was absolutely certain: This would be the very first X-Baby to be born.

* * *

><p>Izabelle had been pretty safe on the cravings front so far. She was acutely aware that people who were not careful exploded during pregnancy and kept looking large well into the next few years. Regardless, she needed peanut butter.<p>

The school had taken to putting a jar aside for her and she carried this through the first floor, spoon in hand, poking around in an attempt to find something interesting while Hank was in training. He had banned her from going outside any time around noon, to protect her and the baby from the blaze, and she was bored.

A group of younger mutants, largely female, waved her over to them in one of the side rooms. This particular group Hank had dubbed her fan club; Izabelle's baby-belly fascinated them, to the point of annoyance. But as Hank would remind her, mutant pregnancy wasn't an every day occurrence and therefore it gave them a different kind of anticipation, one that could include them in the future.

"Ladies," she greeted, crossing her legs under her.

"How's baby?"

"A furnace of death." They laughed and inwardly Izabelle knew they wouldn't giggle when they were carrying a heat generating being in them in the middle of summer.

Noticing Izabelle, Amara, Roberto, and Tabitha joined the cluster. Roberto was almost as distracting to the younger mutant ladies as the baby, and the two combined was almost too much for them.

"We were going to watch a movie. Wanna join?"

"Sure. What movie?"

"Tarzan. The Disney one."

They watched Izabelle's face fall. One of them who called herself Pixie asked what was wrong.  
>"I…don't watch that. Sorry."<p>

Tabitha laughed loudly, and waved as Sam wandered in from the pool. "You make it sound indecent!"

Izabelle blushed.

"You should watch it! It's so cute!" Pixie coaxed.

"And Phil Collins. Always good," added Roberto.

"I've seen it…"

"And you didn't like it?"

"I did…I just can't watch it any more."

"But why not?" The girls wriggled like puppies.

"It's not a bad reason, assumin' I'm guessin' right." It was the first thing Sam said but Izabelle shot him a dirty look. Sam and Izabelle had patched things up after her engagement, something she was very grateful for; he really was a good friend.

Izabelle sighed loudly and Roberto helped her as she stood up. She stared at her hands as she spoke. "Kerchek…When he dies…."

A grin spread across Tabitha's face. "What was that?"

"Something about a humanoid ape being shot to death is just…too close to home…It wasn't a big deal before, but all of the hormones…"

There was a moment of dead silence and then a deafening cloud of "awww!"

"That is so sweet!"

Izabelle laughed. "Well it's something. Don't let me stop you, ladies. I'll join next time."

As she left with the cluster of New Mutants she couldn't help but laugh. If every idiosyncrasy would be endearing now she should have pretended to be pregnant a year ago!

* * *

><p><em>What say you? I've never done a sequel before but as I wrote the ending for the last story this just came together.<em>

_There will be one more OC later who I tried in a story that didn't pan out. So that makes me happy as well. _

_Nice fluff chapter to begin with but don't worry, there will be action and drama! _

_Reviewers get a section of the next chapter early! _


	2. Chapter 2: Heat and Pain

**Chapter 2: Heat and Pain**

Hank came back from training to find Izabelle lying on the floor of their apartment.

"Izabelle?"

"Henry," was the gloomy reply that reached him.

Izabelle opened her eyes and was surprised when she found him laying on the floor beside her. She smiled in spite of herself. "What are you doing?"

"I am joining my wife in laying on the floor and contemplating the ceiling. Unless, of course, there are other reasons she is lying on the floor?" His warm smile seemed to relax her tight muscles and she snuggled up to his shoulder. There was a long silence where Hank could sense that she was trying to think of what to say.

"I just feel so useless," she finally whispered. Hank turned his head from the ceiling to Izabelle and saw her emotion in her eyes. "I just sit here all day and swell up. I can't go outside in this heat so I'm trapped in here until it all cools down. But by that point everyone else has worked themselves to exhaustion and _they_ just want to lie around. And I'm not working out because the work-out rooms are filled with teenage boys and skinny girls and I'm embarrassed and not training any more and I'm so hot ALL THE TIME and I NEVER get fresh air!"

Hank propped himself on his elbow and gently brushed the hair out her eyes. "Don't hold it in. Get it all out."

"I'm serious, Hank!"

"I know," he murmured, looking concerned. "I just don't know how to fix it."

Izabelle watched as his attention fixed on some point over her head. His blue eyes snapped back to her and he smiled.

"Get dressed. I'll be back." He jumped off the floor with agility that made her smile; he had a lot of grace for being so big, while she was much smaller and had no grace at all.

"Why?"

"You'll see," he winked at her and ducked into the shower. Ten minutes later, Hank was toweling off and Izabelle had changed to longer shorts and a tank. Another five minutes and Hank was leading her through the school, teasing and promising she would find out soon enough as they went.

"But you had Danger Room for an hour and-"

"Izabelle. I know very well where I was. But I know where I want to _be_."

Izabelle stopped protesting and allowed herself a smile. Forge walked out of the garage as they were heading in and Hank dropped her hand momentarily. Izabelle watched with growing curiosity as Hank had a tête-à-tête with the mechanical genius. It was clear the conversation was about her but would not include her, so she let her mind wander. It really was impressive the people she could call her friends because she lived here: a mechanical genius, a world class geneticist, an omega level mutant, a billionaire's son, and a man of unknowable age were the first to cross her mind.

* * *

><p>Their conversation ended and Izabelle found herself being driven through the early evening light. Quickly, she rolled down the window and breathed deeply. The cooling night air filled her lungs and whipped her hair around her head. A thought came to her as she breathed in the fresh air.<p>

"You don't have your holowatch," she observed.

"It is not necessary where we are going."  
>Izabelle laughed. "That sounds ominous."<p>

"Hold this for me," was Hank's reply and he pulled a quarter loaf of bread out of his pocket.

"Picnic?"

"Not quite."

Izabelle could get him to divulge no more of his secret destination to her so she half slept until Hank announced that they had arrived. A glowing sunset lit up the park before her. Izabelle was led down to a pond where she could not resist a loud coo of delight. The pond was filled with more ducks than she had seen before.

"It's a duck pond. They set it up so people could feed them here."

"It's wonderful!"

Hank looked over at her with a smile; he had always adored how much she appreciated things, anything really. It struck him that she had been much less…herself as of late. It _would_ be difficult for her, being the only one in her peer group to have a child. And it was not as though there were many older people she could go to about how she felt.

"Bread! We must feed them!"

"But of course my lady!"

A little beach had been built up after a stone wall around the pond so they sat on top of the low wall and threw bread to the ducks that quickly surrounded them.

"This would be a really terrible time to have a 'The Birds' moment," Izabelle smirked.

"We are at a bit of an advantage, however."

"How so? There's a million ducks."

"Well, because _I_ am here of course," he gestured dramatically.

She laughed loudly and elbowed him. "I have no doubt you would do your best, Mr. Humility. How did you know this was here?"

"I used to come here ages ago, when I first moved into the school."

Izabelle's attention was caught. She had not heard a lot about his early mutation days and she had not asked. Things like that could be very sensitive, depending on the mutant. "When was that exactly?"

"My teens. Scott and Bobby were there as well. And Jean and Warren."

"You've been here forever." She realized after she said it how derogatory her comment could sound but it just amazed her. She had not lived in the same place more than four years since high school. To have the same people in your life for that long was something that impressed Izabelle.

Luckily Hank knew what she meant and was not offended. He understood Izabelle's sense of time was different than most, more far reaching. When she had vowed to stay with him till death, he knew she had meant it.

"It was beginning to feel that way," he answered.

She squeezed his hand sympathetically. She could identify with feeling old, alone, and done for. "What made you decide to come back here?"

"I wanted to bring our baby here, to feed the ducks, and when you told me about how you felt I thought we could start a bit earlier than I first assumed."

"It's perfect."

Hank stared out over the water absently. "I would never have guessed I would have a baby to bring here all those years ago though…"

"Seriously? You've always had some lady or another after you."

Hank's head jerked around to Izabelle and he tried to find the motivation in her comment. But she was just quietly feeding the ducks. For her it was a statement of fact.

She caught a glimpse of his face and smiled. "You forget I grew up at the same time as you. And I even covered the lurid breakup." They had discovered last year that Izabelle had actually ran a smear campaign against Trish without realizing it was Hank she had dumped. "I know more about you than you think."

"How alarming!" Hank exclaimed, only half joking. But there was another thread of conversation he wanted to pursue. "Might I ask a personal question?" He lobbed a piece of bread into the middle of the pond and watched the ducks rush for it.

"Of course."

"What were your parents like?"

Izabelle worked on crumbling up some bread in her hand as she pondered out her answer. "They were fine. No better or worse than anyone else's. As far as me being a mutant they were exceptional. They looked for cures and such but I was right there with them. My mom's tall and thin and my dad's average height and squatty. I look like my dad, if course."

Hank let out a loud bark of laughter. "You are not squatty!"  
>Izabelle hunched over, puffing out her stomach as far as she could and doing her best to look like a toad. "Sure I am."<p>

Hank rolled his eyes and she straightened up. He was trying to figure out a way to delicately bring up what had been stirred up in the back of his mind since the wedding. "Can you be sure they would not remember you?"

She stared out over the duck pond and her hand went to her belly. "I assumed they would have found me by now. If they remembered or if they cared."

"But you are hard to find. You have not stayed long in one place and –"

"Have been on the front page several times since our wedding and my pregnancy. And Barrie was able to find me…"

"Barrie was a sociopathic fool," Hank snarled reflexively; his fur bristled and his lips pulled back from his teeth. The mention of the MRD ex-official was enough to stir up pure rage in Hank; the memories of what had been done to Izabelle and himself were no so faded and he did not easily forgive.

Izabelle hugged his thick bicep and stroked the fur until it stayed smooth. "It's okay. He's dead."

"Fortunate for him." Hank's voice was less angry and he kissed the top of her head. "Mayhap your parents are looking."

Izabelle shrugged. "And maybe they're not. How about yours?"

Hank sensed it was time to let the issue go. "Hmmm…normal too I suppose. They felt very oppressive at the time but I was also a teenager so that is worth relatively little. My father tended to be ambitious and removed. My mother followed him and didn't seem to mind that at all."

"_Leave it to Beaver_?"

"I suppose so. Yes. We were the 'ideal' nuclear family: we ignored one another and drifted through our ambition-driven lives."

"I would hardly call your life ambition-driven," Izabelle interjected, surprised.

"I suppose you might not. Ask Bobby and see what answer you receive, however. There have been times."

"We all have our vices."

Hank gave her a side smile. "That we do."

They had used up the loaf and the ducks were finally scattering, realizing there was no more food for them.

"Follow me." Hank led her over to a part of the park that was further into the woods with another, smaller pond. It was clear, shaded by trees, and a stream ran in and out at different ends of the pond. "Not only ducks but wading as well," he exclaimed, 'presenting' the little pond to her.

Grinning, Izabelle kicked off her shoes and socks and walked up to her knees in the cool water. Hank on the other hand carefully removed his shoes, folded his socks, placed them into his shoes, and painstakingly folded up his trousers to just above his knees.

"You are the most meticulous person I have ever met!" she called out to him. She had known this before but it seemed to always appear in new and more baffling ways. "The point of wading would be the casual atmosphere."

"And I would like to casually keep my trousers dry and my socks casually free of sand," Hank retorted, making a deliberately serious face.

The water was cool and Izabelle could almost feel the heat seeping out of her.

"Perfect for swelling," Hank teased from about a yard to her right.

"Whenever you would like to volunteer to carry our child, it is all yours," Izabelle returned, splashing water at Hank.

He faked a splash at her and when she moved to dodge, Izabelle's foot hit a patch of slippery rocks. She fought to catch her balance and Hank reacted instinctively. Unfortunately, the stones beneath his feet were no less slippery than her own patch, with the added disadvantage of his lurch forward to catch her hand. Izabelle regained her balance while Hank did not. Bright peals of laughter rang out throughout the woods as Hank stood up, his fastidiously rolled up pants now soaked.

"I don't know why I even try," he joked as Izabelle held her sides from laughing.

It was agreed the best solution was to let him dry out some before driving back so a picnic table was found and the two sprawled across it, curled up together as they watched the sunset.

"I talked to Forge, as you know. He's been having issues with the Danger Room that really require two hands. Even geniuses need assistance. If you are interested –"

"Yes!" Izabelle interrupted, energetically. "Anything!"

"Good because I volunteered you beginning Monday."

"Sneak!" She poked him in the ribs, causing him to squirm. "I really do appreciate this though, Hank."

He smiled as he gently lifted her and set her on her feet. "We should head back. I would hate for you to catch cold."

* * *

><p>Izabelle had been caught by the fan club and was chatting idly about the book they were reading in her English class when Logan caught up to Hank.<p>

"Where've you been? Couldn't find you."

"Hiding. What is the matter?"

"Nothing…yet. You see the news about the attacks?"

Izabelle's ears perked up and she excused herself from the group of girls. Joining Hank's side, she listened quietly. She was never X-Men material but the politics and insider information was very interesting to her.

"Have they placed the source? Who could have done that?"

"It's being reported as a mutant or several and Chuck says it checks out."

"The guards who were cut up you mean?" Izabelle asked quietly; it had been all over the news. It was not the first attack and they were always gruesome and total, laying waste to anyone in their target zone.

"The same," Logan answered, before turning back to Hank. "Point bein' we might need to go check this out: you, me, and Kurt. Stuff like this can't keep happenin' without doing a lot of damage to the rest of us. Especially with their focus on anti-mutant groups."

"That certainly will not endear us to anyone. Any idea who they might be?"

"Not Magneto. He's politicking for a mutant island and this would not help him right now."

"But they're a class four military threat! Surely a handful of you can't match that!"

Logan raised an eyebrow at her. "Forge been lettin' you listen to the military scanner again?"

She glowered back at him evenly. "It's something I can actually do. You have a complaint about that?"

"Not at all. But you can't let your feelings get in the way of what needs to be done."

"So I should trust _your_ judgment?"

Hank coughed awkwardly and stared at the floor. Izabelle and Logan generally got along. The conflict came when Logan's need for urgency and bold action came up against Izabelle's fierce protectiveness and desire for her husband to not be dead. Two years previous, Hank had been extremely ill and Logan had, unintentionally, allowed him to be badly injured. Since then Izabelle's inherent trust in Logan's judgment was gone. Her remark was a challenge and the three of them knew it.

Logan took a step closer to her but did not seem angry. "You're not the only one who cares about the people in this building. If you want those little girls that follow you everywhere to be able to keep walking free outside these walls, you might want to accept that there's going to be some risk involved. Anyway, it's just a heads up. Night, you two."

* * *

><p>Izabelle had left without a word to Hank. She wanted to kick Logan in the face but he was right. She hated Hank being in danger but he wanted this. The X-Men was part of who he was and she knew that long before they were married.<p>

"Izabelle? Would you like an ear?" Hank sat on the edge of the bed behind her and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes, but not yours." Izabelle jerked away from him, frustrated. She grabbed a jacket and headed for the girl's wing of the building. "I'll be back later."

Hank watched her go, knowing she was angry about the mission and knowing that they would eventually have to have a conversation about his role as her husband and as an X-Man.

* * *

><p>Izabelle was halfway to her destination when she crashed head on into another person. She swore loudly and caught herself on the wall as she ricocheted off to the side. Looking up she had to keep going to find the person's face. The young man she had slammed into was enormous.<p>

"I'm sorry, woman. Are you okay? Your baby?" His accent was thick with Slavic tones and she could not help but smile. He could crush her with one hand and here he was worrying over her and half picking her up to set her back on her feet.

"Pardon, but who are you?" Izabelle asked.

"Pitor. Or Colossus."

"Good name," she grinned up at him.

"And you, woman?"

A voice interrupted from further behind Colossus. "That's not really the best way to address people, Pitor." Kitty strode up to them, winking at Izabelle from behind the new mutant. "Calling people 'woman' tends to be offensive here."

"So sorry!" He began to apologize but Izabelle laughed and cut him off.

"I'm Izabelle McCoy."

"Hank's wife. You'll meet Hank tomorrow," Kitty filled in. She was giving Pitor quite the look so Izabelle decided to make herself scarce.

"I am sure I will be seeing you around, Pitor. Nice meeting you."

"And you!"

Sighing and checking a clock Izabelle decided she might as well head back. She hadn't made it very far and she doubted that staying up any later would make her feel better.

* * *

><p>Hank gave her space when she returned and Izabelle tried to push down her worry. They would deal with all of this later, she told herself. They chatted idly about Colossus, neither knowing what his powers were before Hank drifted off peacefully. But as she slept, Izabelle's dreams were dark and troubling.<p>

_Hank and herself were wandering through the dark streets of New York. She was pregnant and it worried her that they were alone. Hank did not have his holowatch and it was a bad idea to be out alone like this. _

_Without warning, a dark mob spilled out of a building. They weren't fast enough and Izabelle was easily caught._

"_Mutant filth! You shall not pass on this curse!" _

_Somewhere a tazer made an appearance and Izabelle watched in horror as it was pressed into her belly. _

Izabelle's hazel eyes snapped open. In the next moment, a wave of pain engulfed her and she jerked up in bed, grabbing at her belly.

Hank was awake in an instant and looking around the room for some threat. "What is it, Izabelle?"

"I – I don't know." Her voice was thick with confusion and pain. A new wave of pain shot from her belly and radiated through her body. She sucked air in loudly as it nearly took her breath away. Her body lurched forward and then jackknifed back out as the pain only increased.

Hank's eyes betrayed his fear as he watched his wife writhe in pain. The pregnancy had been very uncomplicated so far and now this. Catching a glance of his face, tears began to roll down Izabelle's cheeks.

"I'm going to lose the baby!"

Hank was out of bed and carrying her through the halls of the school in a moment. "No such thing will happen," was his only answer.

She let out a loud cry and dug her nails into his arm. He only held her closer to him, praying it would not be too late. Behind him a bedroom door swung open and there was a familiar sound of metal blades.

"What's goin' on, Hank?"

"Izabelle…she's in pain."

The claws were back in but Logan was by their side.

"Take her to the Danger Room. I'll be there once I program in what I need."

Logan deftly took a whimpering Izabelle from Hank and quickly disappeared down the hall. Hank tore off down the opposite hall, grateful for the speed this could add. He flew into the Control Room, kicking everything on as fast as possible.

"Not my baby!" he breathed. He would have never said such a thing anywhere near Izabelle, but alone in the Control Room he acknowledged his fears.

His fingers flew across the keys and below him the room provided a shoulder deep pool of warm water. He was off again as he glimpsed Logan entering with Izabelle.

Hank quickly took Izabelle from Logan and strode into the tub of water, both of them fully dressed and clinging to one another.

"Breathe, Izabelle. The warmth will help," Hank murmured, holding her close. He hoped this worked. He could medicate her but he would greatly prefer not to medically treat a problem he did not understand.

Izabelle forced herself to take and hold deep breaths of air. Hank rested his lips against his ear and began a low, calm stream of words. Logan made himself to stand still so as to not add to the tension in the atmosphere. He could not catch what Hank was saying beyond words like 'relax' and 'weightless.'

Slowly, Izabelle was soothed and the cramps faded, the muscles relaxing. Hank spoke to her quietly and after she nodded he left her in the tub and emerged dripping in his pajamas.

"Could you stay here with her for just a moment longer? I would like to give her a sleep aid but–"

"Go on, Hank. It's fine."

Beast's paw rested on his friend's shoulder before he sped out of the Danger Room. Logan was left with a loss of what to do. No chairs or anything else in sight, he sat next to where Izabelle held the edge of the deep tub. She didn't look up when he sat beside her and though he was usually one to leave himself to himself the behavior surprised him.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Izabelle McCoy wouldn't look me in the eye," he observed, trying to draw her out.

She shrugged but he could sense she was thinking and left her alone. She would talk if she wanted to. In the silence, the water echoed loudly in the room and he could her shaky breathing.

Finally she spoke: "I'm not strong enough."

"It's got nothin' to do with strength, Izabelle. Carrying a baby all the way through is hard."

She didn't press him on how he knew this. "But so many people have babies easily and it's –"

"A lie. It's only easy in movies."

They both slipped into silence but somehow it seemed to have helped.

* * *

><p>Hank was back quickly and helping Izabelle out of the water. An injection was given to her to help her sleep. Logan followed the couple back to their room to make sure no further complications would set in. As he was leaving, Hank caught him by the arm.<p>

"I would be much obliged if you could keep this quiet. Izabelle will not want to be questioned about this."

Logan smirked. "I'd guess bein' stalked by well-meaning people has its disadvantages."

"Thank you, Logan. Truly."

"Get some sleep, Beast."

Izabelle was asleep almost before she had changed into dry pajamas. But even after Hank had tucked the covers around her and curled up beside her, fear gnawed at him, keeping him awake into the morning. The first thing he wanted to do was order an ultrasound for the mansion.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you to everyone who commented and liked and favorited! I honestly did not expect such an enthusiastic reaction and I really appreciate it! :-)<em>

_I know it's a little out of character for Pitor to call people woman but I always think it's funny that in Russia this is the respectful way to address a woman you are not familiar with. So I thought I would slip that in for kicks. _

_I made 'cover art' of a sort for Forget Me Not; the link to two versions of the pic is in my profile. It's not wonderful or full of talent but it makes me happy. Let me know what you think! _

_Reviews get a selection of the next chapter in advance! _


	3. Chapter 3: Watched

**Chapter 3: Watched**

"_What to Expect When You're Expecting_," Bobby read aloud as he looked over the upside down cover in front of his face. "Shouldn't that be what she's reading?" he queried with a smirk.

"Won't let her," mumbled an upside-down Hank, adjusting his pince-nez. He had tried to hide out in a far corner of the second floor but he tended to be easy to find no matter what he did.

"And why would that be?" A note of concern had entered Bobby's voice. He knew his friend to well to not notice the inconsistency.

Hank sighed and closed the book. "Abnormalities in the pregnancy. More than she knows and I would prefer she not know."

"And last time you did that it all ended very well."

Hank released the beam he hung from and landed on his feet. He gave Bobby a slightly dirty look but nodded in agreement. "And I believe this would have much the same reaction. But she would never notice these things. They are far to medically specific. No, I was reading this for more general information: things we both know are abnormal but without a known cause."

"Like what?" Bobby asked, alarmed at the way Hank was talking.

Quickly and quietly Hank explained what had happened the night before. He had no intention of making the event generally known but Iceman could be trusted.

"Hell..." Bobby breathed when the story finished. "That's not good at all. And you don't know the cause?"

Hank shook his head and ran a hand through his thick hair. "Ideas but they need testing and for obvious reasons I am loathe to try any such test." He smiled sheepishly. Doctor or not it was his baby and he didn't want to take certain risks.

"But there have been healthy mutant pregnancies. Even here there have. Beak and Angel Salvadore gave birth not too long ago."

"And she laid eggs. She didn't gestate any of her children."

"Ah. Yes. There's that." Bobby could not help but laugh. The school was truly one of the weirdest places in the world, one where a normal conversation could be held about how others you knew had laid eggs. "Surely there have been other normal pregnancies?"

"Not out of our group. And others in the school are still fairly young. My personal experience is limited in this and the medical community has ignored this so there is no outside sources to draw from."

"Could it just be Izabelle? Some women are just weaker."

As soon as the words were out he regretted them. Hank's eyes flashed at him menacingly and he visibly bristled. His shoulders pulled back and his fists clenched. If it hadn't been so scary it would have been sweet.

"I didn't mean that!" Bobby backtracked quickly. "You know me. I've never thought she was weak. Anyone who snots off at Logan can't be weak!"

His comments had the desired effect and Hank relaxed.

"Sorry," he said as they began to head downstairs. "But if she heard you say that..."

"She won't. I swear."

"I have thought of that, but the problem is if that is the case I can't fix it. And I am so used to being able to fix it..." Hank trailed off, staring into the distance. "It makes me wonder if she could or if any mutant could have a normal pregnancy."

"Well do what you always do," chirped Bobby, trying to lighten the mood as they reached the bottom of the entry stair. "Study. Scientific Method. If you can't find it, put it out there yourself. You can at least help others."

A small smile cracked the worry on Hank's face. "Not a bad idea. Many thanks, friend."

Bobby gave an exaggerated bow as Izabelle reentered the house. Her restrictions to inside the house had been lifted when the heat dropped somewhat and under the conditions that she not stay too long in the sun. Hank smiled at her in her huge floppy brimmed hat and sundress.

"Out!" she cried, waving at them energetically. "Volleyball is starting and I'm to send you both outside!"

Hank grinned at her, wrapping his arms around her. "Someone is bossy."

"Practicing." She indicated her belly, giving him a kiss.

Bobby knelt in front of Izabelle's belly and took it in both hands. "Here's our volleyball then."

Izabelle laughed. "Feels that way."

"How's my favorite nephew?" he shouted into her stomach. "Baaaaaaaabbbbyyyyyyyyyy!"

Giggles erupted behind them as some students passed by the scene.

"You know, I think the baby is supposed to learn his voice, not yours. And you're going to make him disfigured."

"How so?" Bobby hopped to his feet.

"He'll be born looking like this," and she opened her large eyes as wide as she could in a look of alarm.

The three laughed loudly at the impression before she finally succeeded in shooing them out of the building. Bobby's comment had given her an idea and she needed Amara and Tabitha.

* * *

><p>Hank hated getting sand in his fur but it really couldn't be avoided with the sand volleyball court. The power-free game had been a nice challenge, though for some like him nothing was without mutations. As such, he and the new arrival Pitor had been on opposite teams. The other team had won and now he needed a shower.<p>

He could hear girls' giggling though as he approached so he carefully peeked through the door before entering. His eyes nearly popped out of his head and he covered his mouth to muffle his laugh. Izabelle was wearing her bikini top and her belly was painted to look like a giant fishbowl, complete with fighter fish and red coral.

Amara was using Izabelle's camera to snap pictures and the three were laughing loudly now.

"Well, well, well," Hank clicked his tongue as he entered the room.

The three of them completely lost it at his fake disapproval and Amara handed him the camera, indicating he should look through it.

"It was Bobby's fault," laughed Izabelle. "He said I should be a beach ball and I thought 'I bet I could be.' We found some stage make up in a closet and made me a beach ball."

Hank had reached those pictures and laughed. It was a pretty good imitation of a beach ball, now that Izabelle was closer to five months.

"Turns out there are whole sites for this and we got a bit carried away," explained Tabitha now that she was more under control.

Hank was impressed really. There was Izabelle's belly as the Earth and as the X-Men symbol as well.

"Well it's good to see your time has been well spent," he replied trying and failing to keep a straight face. He grabbed his towel and began to leave.

"We can move somewhere else," Izabelle offered.

"I need the sand blasted off of me anyway. I'll use the Danger Room shower. But I fully expect a mural of my lovely face on there when I get back."

He shut the door with a grin as new peals of laughter broke out.

* * *

><p>"Pudgy! Where are you, Pudgy?"<p>

Izabelle could barely suppress a grin as she crept through the Danger Room. Forge's sister had visited him a month or so ago and the childhood nickname had not been lost on Izabelle.

A spot snapped on her, coning her in light. "Har. Har. Har," Forge's voice echoed around her.

She rested a hand on her belly and grinned into the room. "Don't be a sore loser. You wouldn't hurt a pregnant lady."

The lights came on through the whole room and he appeared close at hand. "You won't be pregnant forever. Then what excuse will you have?"

"You wouldn't hurt a new mother?" she suggested grinning evilly at her friend.

"Devil," he returned, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Hank told me you had malaise. I need some help around here and your baby shouldn't be too much in the way. Assuming you're still interested?"

"Very much so. Xavier gave me some summer classes but I'm still bored stiff."

"Follow me then!"

An hour later, the basics of the Danger Room mechanics had been explained to her. The current problem they faced, viewed through a hatch in the Control Room floor, was a leak of very expensive coolant onto very sensitive electronic boards.

"If you watch the X-Men some time you'll notice a random repeat of sequence at intervals," Forge explained. "That's the leak interrupting the program. Like a scratched disk, it repeats."

"But shouldn't you shut down the electricity to the room before you work on it? It's still a liquid and electricity."

"Probably you should, but I," she watched his arm morph into a tool of it's own, "am usually fine. For today you are to hand things to me. It's delicate surgery and I need a nurse. Assuming this does not offend you."

"As long as it's not because I'm pregnant."

Forge laughed as he lowered himself into the floor. "I would never dare to shortchange you, Izabelle."

What had appeared to be a simple fix ended up becoming a long project that could not be stopped until it had been finished. The leak was only a symptom of a gouge in the hose much further back; the liquid was running down the tube and then dripping at the low point. What this then meant, Forge had explained, was since they had already begun on the tubing they would have to go back along the line until they found the gouge. Izabelle was sent to find a panel in the actual Danger Room and turn the coolant feed off, along with turning off the power to the Control Room.

With the coolant off they had to work fast and the longer they worked the hotter it got. There was nothing for it but continuing.

Hank had allowed for delays but when it hit eight in the evening he was firmly convinced that something had gone wrong, that they were hurt or worse. He burst into the Control Room only to be pushed back by a wave of heat and shouting.

"Leave the door open! Sweet Fancy Moses!"

Hank jumped back as Izabelle's voice sounded under his feet. The floor was strewn with parts and pieces, so he carefully picked his way through the pieces and parts. Hanging upside down from the hatch he could not help but smile at the sight he was greeted with. His pregnant wife was standing tiptoe on Forge's back and hanging from a line of tubing. She stopped when she noticed him watching her.

"Hank! Get down here!"

Forge and Izabelle had worked their way several yards under the floor and he was there quickly, helping her off of Forge's back. Forge got to his feet and rubbed at his back. Between the two of them they were soaked with sweat and coolant. They quickly explained to Hank what had occurred so far. Now they had reached the gouge but it had crusted over and become wedged impossibly tightly.

"And here I was worried the two of you had gotten yourselves killed," Hank joked, yanking the tubing free easily.

Izabelle gave him a huge kiss and quickly set about helping Forge put in new tubing. Between the three of them they were done fairly quickly, mending the line and replacing all the parts they had removed to get to it.

"I am so very sorry, Izabelle!" Forge apologized for the millionth time, locking up the Control Room. "I truly thought this would be a quick first day fix!"

Izabelle laughed, a huge grin on her face. "Not at all! This was the most interesting thing I have done in a while!"

"Think so? You're not quitting on me?"

"Nah. You'll not be rid of me that easily!"

"Tomorrow then!"

They parted ways. Hank and Izabelle turned a corner. Izabelle was stunned to find herself scooped up in her husband's arms.

"You are an incredibly attractive woman," Hank murmured into her ear as he carried her to their room.

"I stink and I am covered in coolant. Remind me why this is attractive?"

Hank kicked his shoes off before turning on the shower and pulling Izabelle to him. "You are the mother of my child. You paint your belly when you're bored. You do repair jobs at five months of pregnancy. _You_ are a superheroine." As he spoke he gently removed Izabelle's clothes, dropping them into a pile.

She smiled up at him seductively, and began to undress him in return. "Well, if you insist. And what might a heroine's reward be for saving the day?"

"Allow me to show you."

* * *

><p>"And that was when I knew…"<p>

Hank laughed loudly, holding his sides. "What did Logan say?"

"Nothing at all. But he blushed nearly purple."

"Stars and garters! What I would not give to see that."

"I think most people would give quite a lot not to see that. But here." Izabelle's powers were more normal today but mostly as a result of an odd incident that morning. This was what she had been discussing with Hank and this was the memory she now passed to him.

She had been more absent minded than usual and a call from Forge had distracted her while she was getting ready that morning. Most of the school was still asleep so she had headed directly to the kitchen to grab breakfast and, since she was alone she had danced around the kitchen a bit as she made eggs. The sound of a glass shattering on the floor had jolted her back to the present.

Logan was staring at her and glowing red. His hand was still formed as if holding a glass though there was a shattered beer bottle on the floor. Izabelle could not figure out what the problem could be until she looked down. She was wearing no pants! No skirt! Nothing but her pregnancy underwear! Luckily it was more full coverage than others she owned but she still darted behind a counter with surprising agility.

"I'll…clean this up…" Logan had mumbled, as if nothing had happened. He left quickly, his ears burning wildly.

She had grabbed the whole pan holding her eggs and bolted out of there, locking herself in their bedroom until she was able to find it funny.

Even as Hank watched the memory he laughed afresh. He covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to draw too much attention. They had driven out to Central Park for kicks and New York City was not the place to draw attention to mutant status. Even with the holowatch, Hank was unusually large.

"And so that began my day. I was looking to make sure I had on pants enough that Forge actually commented on it."

Hank affectionately held Izabelle's stomach in his hands. "Oh baby," he spoke into her belly, "the trouble you cause your poor mother."

Izabelle's face grew serious and she lifted Hank's chin so that he was looking her in the face. He could see concern in her features and, assuming correctly that among people was not the appropriate locale for the conversation she wanted to have, he lead them off to an isolated tree. She folded her legs and he rested his head in her lap, lying on his back.

"Henry?"

"Yes, Izabelle?"

"What if our baby is not a mutant?"

Hank searched her face. He hadn't thought much about _that_. He had thought about what it would be like to raise a mutant child. About how they could not even predict what the child's powers could be. But not being a mutant at all…that had never crossed his mind.

"And," she continued, "what if the baby erases my powers? What if I'm no longer a mutant?"

Hank took her hands and placed them on his shoulders as he thought. Another good question…

"I suppose," he began carefully, "we would learn how to live differently. But we're already expecting that aren't we?"

"I suppose so. But…well, it's odd but our child could actually be more out of place in the Institute as a non-mutant than as a mutant in the world around us. I don't know if that makes any sense."

"No, it does. And you're right. There are ways to find out though."

"Such as?"

"Mutants who can sense mutations in others. Genetic testing."

"I'd rather refrain from anything that involves a needle in my baby."

Hank smiled. "I would too, to be honest."

"And if I lose my powers?"

Hank raised his eyebrows at her and she cut him off before he could tease her. "I know they were the bane of my life for most of my life, but they have formed who I am. And they allow me to fit in at the Institute. I'm just…afraid."

"Of what?"

"That you would…" Izabelle stopped. After what lay in their pasts she couldn't even bear to say it.

"That I would leave you?"

She nodded silently. "I know you don't love me for that, but it would be a gaping separation…"

"Would you have married me if I were, say, Turkish?"

"Pardon?" Izabelle was totally caught off guard. "Um, of course, but–"

"Wouldn't that be a gaping separation? Culturally? Personally? More so than even the loss of your powers could create."

She watched him closely, understanding but still worried. Hank sat up and pulled her close to him.

"I would never leave you. You could lose your powers, be put into a coma, or terribly disfigured and I would not leave you. I would grieve the loss with you and then we would move forward together."

Izabelle relaxed and smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"Not at all. It's the truth."

* * *

><p>The thunder cracked loudly overhead and the couple broke into a run. It had looked stormy for a good part of the evening but they had stayed out too long in spite of the warning signs. Rain began to smash down on them as they ran.<p>

"In here!" Hank yelled above the torrent, pulling Izabelle after him into an alley. They were only a few blocks from the car but maybe they could wait it out here.

They immediately set to drying off the holowatch to keep it from dying on them. This done they could not help but laugh.

"You nearly yanked me off my feet!"

"And a lot of good it did us to!" Hank grinned indicating that they were both soaked through. As he looked at her, wet and laughing, he felt it was only fair that he share what had been on his mind since their conversation under the tree. He knew that he rarely expressed his doubts and fears and she had always been forthcoming with hers.

"I have wondered on occasion if you would not be happier if I were less of a mutant."

Nearby, listening ears perked up. Ears in the sewer nearby.

"What on earth do you mean, Henry?"

The listener drew closer, below them and out of sight. Could this really be…?

In a fit of emotion he flipped off the holowatch. "Look at me, Izabelle. We cannot be seen publicly together, not truly."

Izabelle took his hands in hers, comparing the size and shape absently. "But this is who you are. You are Henry Phillp McCoy and you are blue and furry and your life is more difficult for it. But it's who you have always been to me."

The listener watched, not believing his luck. That woman was clearly pregnant, and that was clearly Beast, of the X-Men. If this were his baby…

"And I adore your mutation. I would our baby were born looking just like you."

Hank laughed and flicked the holowatch back on. "That would be a larger baby than I would ever wish for you to deliver."

Bending over, Izabelle spoke to their child. "Whose daddy is the biggest strongest mutant? The best in the world?"

Their observer disappeared into darkness as the couple decided to just make a break for it in the rain. This was too perfect. Anesthesia must be told!

The figure ran through the labyrinth of sewers until coming into a bunker hidden far below the city. Mutants crowded the room and the watcher pushed through the room, heading to a dais on the far end of the room.

The mutants he pushed began to push him back, jeering. He was young and lower among them. But his frustrated cries gave way to shouts of valuable information. On the dais, a woman stood, tall and angular and white blonde. She motioned to him and a path cleared for him. He kneeled before her and she motioned for him to stand.

"What is this valuable news?"

"Anesthesia, I've found it. The solution to our problem."

* * *

><p><em>And the action picks up! Hooray! <em>

_Thank you so much to those of you reviewing! I appreciate it hugely! :-D _


	4. Chapter 4: A Figure in the Dark

**Chapter 4: A Figure in the Dark**

"Still has the back facing me. But everything looks healthy." Hank smiled over at his pregnant wife and indicated the sonogram image.

"It's a baby..." She sounded almost disbelieving but there was something surreal about seeing what was inside her, and about seeing how human it really was.

"Our baby," he grinned giddily at her and kissed her. He began to shut down the machine.

"Still a surprise."

"What is?"

"The gender. Do you ever wish that it could stay a surprise?"

Hank paused, thoughtfully staring off into space. "It had never entered my mind to consider it. I assumed, maybe unfairly, that I would be your doctor and so it followed I would know the gender of the baby."

"True..."

"Would you prefer it be a surprise?"

"Maybe. But I would also prefer you be my doctor."

"Hey! Did I miss the baby viewing?" Kitty strode easily into the room, a dazed looking Pitor following behind.

"So sorry!" he mumbled as Izabelle pulled her shirt back down.

"Not at all," she smiled, sitting up and resting a hand on her stomach. "You okay?"

"Hit in the head."

"Hard, too!" Kitty began to betray worry in her tone of voice. "I mean, he was metaled over, Hank."

"I'll look over him. Do you mind, Izabelle?"

"By all means."

Kitty leaned against a counter near Izabelle as Hank began to check Pitor's pupils. "So what is it? Boy or girl?"

"Don't know. We were actually just talking about it. I mean, I would like for it to be a surprise but that's nearly impossible with Hank as my doctor." Izabelle shrugged, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Not necessarily."

Izabelle's attention was caught. "How's that?"

"I was reading about how bakeries will create cakes that are neutral outside but the inside is colored to show the gender of the baby. Your doctor calls it in and you are surprised at your baby shower!"

"Two problems. I don't want a shower and that still means Hank would know. And to be honest he's a horrible liar."

"I resent that," Hank called over his shoulder. "Would you prefer I be skilled in the art of deceit?"

"Nay," she teased, imitating the tone he had taken. "But your face would tell all."

Kitty couldn't help but laugh. "I can't read him at all so if this is actually a problem you have I am impressed! But, I take your two objections and raise you two of my own. One, we would like to throw you a baby shower and it requires nothing from you. Two, all he has to do is not tell you; if you don't ask he won't have to lie."

Izabelle gestured indecisively. "But it seems so selfish, taking gifts for being knocked up."

A pen bounced off her forehead and the two women stared in disbelief at Hank, who stood arms akimbo and glowering. Behind him, Pitor tried to hide his laughter.

"You forget I have excellent hearing. You are not _knocked up_. I would never _knock up_ anyone and such a tone shall not be applied to our baby."

Izabelle broke into a grin. "You're right. Sorry. I was just being a grump."

Hank gave her a wry look and then went digging for an ice pack.

"I do like the idea of the cake," Izabelle continued, as if nothing had happened. "And I don't know that he cares as much as I do about not knowing the gender."

"Why do _you _care then?"

Izabelle sighed and pulled at her bob. "Because I don't want to be sucked into the pink and ribbons and junk."

"She's afraid it's a girl," Hank added, pressing the ice pack to Pitor's head.

"But why? Baby girls have such cute clothes!" cooed Kitty.

"And grown girls suck."

Kitty could not help but laugh. "I'll drop the issue. I didn't mean to hit a sore spot. But consider the shower, please? You're our first X-Baby."

"Will do."

Kitty left with Pitor in tow and Hank helped Izabelle down from the table.

"Would you prefer I not tell you?" he asked, watching her expression.

"Yeah...If you can," she teased.

"I have surprised you before," Hank murmured, spinning the diamond ring on her finger.

"I suppose you have," she returned before leaning up to kiss him.

* * *

><p>That night, Izabelle lay in bed, sleeping soundly after a bought of being kicked in the kidneys by her child. A shadow danced through the window and she stirred.<p>

She sat up, letting the breeze from the open window cool her skin. That really was the problem with being married to Hank; he was like a furnace with all of that fur. She slipped quietly out of their bed and stood in the moonlight. Somewhere in the distance she would have sworn she could hear saws and hammers, but that made little sense at midnight.

A sound to her right caught her attention and she leaned out over the balcony to see what it was.

* * *

><p>The sound of Izabelle screaming brought Hank instantly to waking. He ripped at the covers wound around him and bounded over to where she lay. Leaping out of the window, Beast scrambled up the side of the building, but there was nothing there. He raced down the side and dashed around the corner nearby. Nothing at all.<p>

When he dove back through his own window, Hank quickly scooped Izabelle up off of the floor and gently set her on the bed. She had knocked over an endtable in her fright and fallen over.

"What was it? Were you dreaming?" Hank asked, trying to soothe her.

"There was something there. Outside the window. It was trying to touch me and I screamed."

"But Izabelle, I was just out there. There was nothing."

"I saw it Hank! I could show it to you!"

Hank tried to find the right, tactful words for what he was thinking. "Yes, and you can also show me dreams. Remember?"

She glowered at him. "It wasn't a dream. Something was out there."

He tried to just nod ambiguously but, as had been discussed earlier that day, he could not hide what he was thinking from her.

"I don't care if you don't believe me. Something was there!"

"I am sorry, Izabelle. I just did not see anything. You know I would much rather believe you if you believe it so earnestly. We can shut the windows and run the fan if that would make you feel safer."

Seeing that he did mean what he said and that she could not convince him of what she had seen, Izabelle nodded and sullenly climbed back into bed.

* * *

><p>Izabelle had just finished her class and the juniors and seniors were filing out quickly to change and enjoy the sun. Ever since the night she had seen someone (she still adamantly held to the idea that there had been someone there) outside their window, she had felt as though she were being followed.<p>

"Izabelle?"

Spinning wildly she shrieked. She had not heard anyone enter the room, but all she was greeted with was a scared Roberto.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you!"

"It's not that," she waved his apologies aside, trying to smile. "What's going on?"

His usual cheerful expression replaced the concerned one. "A surprise! But you have to be blindfolded."

She could tell that Roberto was deliberately leading her in circles to throw off her sense of where they were but she could not guess why.

When Izabelle was finally told to stand still, she started to feel around her. Her hand closed on a furry hand next to hers and their fingers entwined. "Hank?"

"I see you have been included in this charade! I suppose you are in the dark as well?"

She laughed and groaned loudly. "Terrible joke!"

"The question still stands."

"Not a clue. One moment I was teaching Kafka and the next I was here."

"Excellent writer. What piece?"

"The Trial."

"Wonderful work! I have always admired his use of the bizarre to convey the isolation and –"

"Only you two could carry on a normal conversation about books while standing blindfolded in a room you don't know!"

"Oh but I know exactly where we are, _Scott_," Hank replied pointedly. "The spare room in the back of the first floor. I am only _in the dark_ as to why we are here."

Izabelle groaned again. "One more time and I'll kick you, Henry."

"Allow us to _enlighten_ you," came Jean's voice and the blindfolds were removed. "Ta da!"

Looking around this room was the same as any of the others upstairs. Same wood paneling and plush carpet. But Izabelle's eyes landed on the difference quickly and she gasped in surprise.

"You added on a room for…our baby."

The cluster of friends grinned at them both as they walked through the child's room that had been attached to the building. There was even a porch door that lead out onto the lawn. Izabelle tried her best to hold it together but tears still leaked out of her eyes. Amara began to say something but Izabelle laughed and waved it aside.

"Between the baby, and the surprise, and the hormones you could say 'How are you, Izabelle?' and I would cry right now. Thank you all so much!"

"Not at all," replied Scott. "We've been working on it at night so you wouldn't notice. It was Xavier's idea."

At the mention of his name, Xavier rolled through the door all smiles. "It seemed that the two of you would need some space to grow and it was the least we could do to help you find that space."

Even Hank, who usually did not wear his emotions openly, was a bit glassy eyed. Space had been a concern for them and the idea of leaving the school hadn't even been discussed because it made both of them panic. This room was a godsend.

"We left the room plain for you however. Please do with it whatever you like."

After many thanks to everyone for helping, a group of the women detached and began discussing the possible décor of the baby's room. It was decided that things could be moved in and Hank left with a detachment of guys to start maneuvering the furniture.

After the basics of the furniture had been moved into the new room, Hank left to sort out the grocery order. It had been passed on to him largely because the pantry was near the entrance to his lab and the grocery lady actually liked him. She tended to be removed and cranky with everyone and Logan sent her straight into fits. But for some reason she adored Hank.

"Hello, Marilee," he greeted her cheerfully. Following her to the truck he easily lifted several palates of food and set them in the storage space. Now that he thought about it this may actually be why she liked him, he realized. The thought made him smile.

"Hank?" someone asked from the pantry entrance.

Without looking up he knew the voice. "Yes, love?"

"Mind if I start looking for decorating ideas?"

"Be my guest. Show me the choices!"

He heard her jog off quickly and he returned to Marilee. The middle age woman was watching Izabelle hurry away.

"Is that your wife?" Reaching into her beehive hair she produced a pen and offered it to Hank.

"Indeed she is." Hank could not keep the silly tone out of his voice. It still surprised him to say it.

"Does it worry you?" Marilee asked, only half paying attention.

"Pardon?"

"The baby. The danger."

"What danger?"

"You are an X-Man aren't you? There is no certainty for the future, is there?"

The delivery woman was just trying to find something to talk about but her words touched a chord in Hank that he had ignored for a while. He was beginning to wonder if some of Izabelle's pregnancy issues were related to stress, and if their lifestyle might not actually be indirectly harming the baby.

"I suppose we all live with that risk," he answered vaguely.

"She's about six months?"

Hank thought, pen poised above the clipboard, and realized the delivery lady was right. "Yes. She is, actually."

"She's rather frail for as big as she is."

Another nagging doubt was touched on with those words. She was. He had kept it quiet, but though she was wide hipped the baby's position was off and it was a large baby already.

Hank was feeling ill now and it must have shown because Marilee quickly backed off.

"But you're a doctor. She'll be fine."

He nodded and signed the order slip, waving good-bye as she drove off. He needed to lie down. He had a creeping choking sensation and he popped the top buttons off of his collar as he pulled it open. They pinged across the room and he let them go, knowing Izabelle could fix it later.

* * *

><p>Hank had just realized that his bed was now in a room full of people when Izabelle appeared in the door.<p>

"Henry! Which do you like better?" She held out two pairings of paint chips. He vaguely wondered as he stared at her hands how on earth she had gotten a hold on paint samples so quickly.

"Do we have to paint _now_?"

"Well, no. I _can't_. But it's good to have these things ready, right?"

"I do not have an opinion, Izabelle."

She gave him an odd look. "You have an opinion about everything, Hank."

"Not today." He grimaced a little. That had been sharper than he had meant. He tried to smooth it over. "Just pick whichever you prefer."

"Alright…" She stood and walked to the door tentatively. "I like the grey and green. Okay?"

He didn't respond and she left him standing there. But the longer he stood the more angry he was. No. He didn't like anything right now. He didn't like that all of his stuff was now surrounded by people, giving him no privacy. He didn't like green and grey. And he didn't like…whatever this feeling was.

So when he stormed into their new room and asked to speak to Izabelle alone, the results were fairly quick. Izabelle was looking at him very oddly and he launched into what had been going through his head immediately.

"I do not like the grey and green. You are right. I have an opinion."

The odd look grew to one of annoyed confusion.

"Green is a boy's color, Izabelle. And you know that. You cannot force this baby to be a boy by painting–"

"HENRY PHILIP MCCOY!"

He was instantly cowed. She looked hurt but mostly confused. He tugged at his collar; the air felt so close.

"I have no idea what in the _hell_ this is about, but it had best not be paint! What on earth is wrong?"

His reaction terrified her; she was used to him doctoring her but having to doctor him was alarming. He began pacing wildly, his hands in his hair and his breathing loud and harsh.

"I…open a window. Please, Izabelle!"

She ran, slamming into a misplaced table and bouncing off, and threw open the windows in their room and the baby's room. Hank was fanning himself with a paw now and Izabelle realized what was happening. Hank McCoy was having a panic attack. But why not? He had heat stroke the year they met because he had ignored it for so long. Was he not just as likely to ignore his own stress levels?

"Sit down, Hank."

"I'll be fine, I just–"

"SIT DOWN!"

He sat obediently, still gasping for air. Kneeling in front of him, Izabelle took his face in both of her hands. "Breathe in…Hold…Breathe out…Hold."

His blue eyes flitted about the room and she shook his head, forcing them back on her. She continued to 'coach' him on breathing until he seemed less anxious. Shifting to a spot beside him on the bed, she placed his hands on her belly.

"We're okay. All three of us. I promise."

Hank smiled weakly and knew that he would have to explain what had just happened. Lying back across the bed, he pulled Izabelle to him.

"Would you resent me if I died and left you alone?"

"No," she replied honestly. "I would wish I were dead but…" She rubbed her baby bump, subconsciously filling in the rest of her answer. "Why?"

"I very well could die. And to leave you alone…I cannot even think about it. But yet, it is what I do. It's why we are here."

"Partially. This is our home."

He only nodded.

"Who's been scaring you?"

"Pardon?" He gave her a confused look but she killed it with a withering stare.

"There is no way that came out of your own fuzzy brain unaided. So where did it come from?"

"Marilee." The embarrassment in his voice kept Izabelle from laughing.

"And if I had to make a guess, she also commented on how large my baby was and said I could not safely deliver it. And the combination of all of these hit at exactly the wrong time?"

"Izabelle –"

"Part of my ongoing war with the elderly," she interrupted, "is their tendency to approach me unasked and offer that exact advice."

Now Hank balked. "How often?"

"At least once per public outing. You see, I know our baby is large. But you credit yourself for that one and you worry and don't tell me and feel guilty." Her voice was not even slightly accusing; it was almost amused. But Hank still blushed when she said it. "But what you fail to realize is that when I was born I weighed in at a grand thirteen pounds."

Hank's surprise showed clearly on his face. "Truly?"

She grinned and nodded at him. "And my mother is more narrow hipped than I. Listen, you cannot deal with all this at one time. We just have to take it as it comes right now."

Hank breathed deeply, feeling a weight lift from him. "Thank you, Izabelle. I am a horribly stupid man. Are you sure you would not prefer another?"

"You are _my_ horribly stupid man," she teased, kissing him sweetly. "But if you would like to garner favor you could always take me for some ice cream."

Jumping up, he picked her up in his arms easily. "Then ice cream we shall have!"

* * *

><p>Izabelle tried to focus her mind on her mango sherbet but she could not escape that feeling…<p>

Now, at the little ice cream shop, Hank sensed something was wrong. She had goosebumps from the cold dessert, yes, but the hair on her neck was prickling as well. She was scared.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, realizing they may not want to advertise their fears.

"Someone is watching me," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"How can you be sure?"

"I can feel it. It's not the first time."

"Why did you not say anything?"

"I didn't think you would believe me."

Hank scooted closer to her and gently, very gently since he was much stronger than her, began to rub her shoulders. "Are you sure it is not just the baby? It could be the baby's own powers."

"It's not that," she muttered, refocusing on her sherbet. "It's someone watching."

Hank sighed and ruffled her hair. "Well, until they manifest themselves I do not know how to help. No one I can see is watching us. Not more than usual anyhow."

Izabelle nodded and dropped the topic, changing the conversation to what she and Forge had worked on earlier. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was nothing. And there was nothing they could do without a target anyway.

* * *

><p>The next week passed uneventfully. They were able to settle into their new ground floor rooms and they both quickly grew to appreciate the isolation it afforded. The quiet was wonderful and not having someone with super hearing as a neighbor was a relief. Some of their more amorous evenings had earned them looks from Logan they really could do without.<p>

Izabelle was sitting on the floor of the room grading when she began to feel as though she were being watched. Panic surged through her and she quickly searched the room but found no sign of anyone but her. Hank was busy with training in the Danger Room and would not be back until later that night. The mission Logan had mentioned had been given the go ahead and they needed to prepare.

She briefly thought about getting Sam or even her 'fan club' but brushed the thought away. She had to get these papers done before the summer class session ended.

Izabelle bent over one of them and felt a hand grip her arm. She spun to see a hooded figure holding on to her. She reacted in the only way she could. Her piercing scream tore from her so loudly that the figure actually jumped. Izabelle saw a flash of something white before falling over, darkness closing in on her.

* * *

><p>"Hank!"<p>

The training session froze around them and Hank paused in punching a hole in the Danger Room generated Sentinel. The voice was clearly Forge's and it sounded very alarmed.

"Yes?"

"It's Izabelle."

He was out of the door before anyone could speak to him. Racing on all fours, students and adults lept aside as he careened through the building. He grabbed at a wall to turn sharply and heard the wood splinter. Reaching the main entrance, he lept for the chandelier, hoping to use it to change direction. As it was he missed by a fraction of an inch and plummeted clumsily toward the floor. In an unusual turn of circumstance, someone actually caught _him_.

Hank could not help but feel like an idiot as Pitor set him down on the floor. "Izabelle…"

"What happened?"

The pair took off running, the two of them together making a huge amount of noise.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll fix your door."

"Why would you…" Hank dropped the end of his question as he reached their room. The door lay at one end of the hall, cleanly torn from the wall.

"She was screaming and the handle got away from me."

Tabitha sat on the couple's bed with Izabelle's head in her lap. When Boom-Boom spotted Hank she instantly looked relieved.

"We didn't know what to do, Hank! I was cooking and he was there and she was lying on the floor!"

Several of the X-Men, worried about Hank, arrived on the scene and Scott's orderly nature kicked in quickly.

"Tabitha, what happened? Explain."

The blonde nodded as Hank began to look over his wife.

"She was grading so I wasn't going to bother her. I was cooking and Pitor was talking to me. We heard her scream from the kitchen! We thought…I don't even know what, but we ran down here. I would have blown the door off but he just yanked it away. She was lying on the floor and something was out of the window. We couldn't get after it in time but something was there. Forge showed up a few minutes later saying something was streaking across the lawn. We sent him after you."

"She didn't fall," Pitor filled in. "She was already sitting on the floor and just fainted."

Even as Hank got ready to ask how long she had been out, Izabelle stirred. "Henry? Henry!"

She jerked up and he knelt in front of her, holding her in his arms. "What happened, Izabelle? You fainted."

She put a hand to her forehead before speaking slowly. "Someone was here. They grabbed me by the arm and…just stood there. I was so scared I screamed. I had felt it watching me…then it ran away."

Hank was on his feet quickly, muscles tensing in fury, and Logan read his face just as quickly. "Puttin' your hand through a wall won't heal your wife, Hank."

Hank's huge blue fists curled and uncurled but he maintained self-control. "She knew she was being watched and I did not believe her."

"But why would you?" Izabelle interjected. "Your senses are fifty times better than mine and you never noticed a thing."

"Were you injured in any way? Was anything at all taken?" Scott interjected.  
>"No. I told you. It just grabbed on to me. I couldn't see who it was but it was a <em>who<em>."

"What could that mean?"

"I would believe," a familiar voice sounded from behind the group in the door, "that the objective was simply contact with Izabelle herself."

The group parted and Xavier entered the room.

"But why?" Hank had finally settled by Izabelle, convinced that she was unharmed but no less worried.

"Given the nature of your wife's powers, it could be to receive a memory, to leave some sort of information, or to gather something from her."

The room was silent.

"But Professor, I feel no different. I can usually feel something taken or given and I feel no such thing."

"Than we must assume that this contact was to establish something about you, my dear."

The weight of this seemed to settle around the room. The couple had hoped this sort of thing had been left behind them, but the reality that it might never leave was settling in.

"For the time being," Xavier continued in a soothing voice, "Izabelle is safe. We will increase the security around the school and your room specifically. Izabelle will be with another person if Hank is otherwise occupied and we will all remain alert for any strangers."

* * *

><p>Below New York City, a meeting was gathering. The noise was impressive and the crowd shoved back and forth in the dark. But when the blonde woman took the dais, silence settled over them.<p>

"Morlocks! I have news!"

A cheer went up and her sharp face turned up in a cold smile.

"The child is a mutant. It carries the X-Gene in its blood. This is what we have been waiting for!"

The screams and shouts were nearly deafening and the woman left the dais. Her mind was whirling and some of her closest cohorts quickly surrounded her. Now was a time for careful planning. The X-Men would be a difficult target indeed.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you for all of the positive reviews! I'm honored! <em>

_Excerpts of the next chapter to reviewers! Please review for I will be desperately sad if there are none! :-)_


	5. Chapter 5: The Smell of Blood

**Chapter 5: The Smell of Blood**

"It will all be okay," Hank soothed, tucking Izabelle's hair behind her ear.

"Just go then," she mumbled, staring at the carpet.

"Izabelle…If there's something you want to say or to ask for–"

"Be safe. Don't die. Now go." She looked up and he could plainly see that she was upset. But it was also clear from her tone that she did not think delaying his departure would make things any better.

The mission Logan had mentioned before had gone ahead and Hank needed to be down in the Blackbird in five minutes. The mysterious mutant group had become more emboldened and more gruesome. Some of the last guards they found showed signs of having been vivisected. It was clear something needed to be done before the mutant registration acted flared up again but it was a potentially fatal mission. There were enough of these mutants that it was impossible for Cerebro to target them without an exact location, leaving their number and exact powers unclear. So, terrifyingly, the possibilities were endless.

This is what was bothering Izabelle and this was exactly what she did not want to talk about. But Hank knew they would have to talk about it at some point.

He leaned over and kissed her sweetly, running a hand over her bulging stomach. "I will see you tonight then."

She nodded and the door to their room closed behind him. "I won't sleep until I see you back again," she murmured.

* * *

><p>Izabelle was lying on the floor when Amara found her. There was a momentary panic before she was able to make it clear that she was fine. Or mostly fine, rather.<p>

"What do you mean mostly fine?" Amara asked, helping Izabelle to her feet.

"Just some pains," she answered, with a slight wince. "It's nothing. When the baby isn't kicking me in the kidneys, I have heartburn."

"I could find Roberto and he could rub your back."

Izabelle smiled at her wryly. "I rather think he saves that for people who aren't pregnant and married already. I'll ask Hank to when he gets back. He's stronger anyway."

"Well I'm sure you know all about that," Amara returned suggestively.

Izabelle laughed and the two wandered off in search of something to do.

* * *

><p>Hank snapped the headset for the Blackbird on quickly, not speaking to Logan as he ran through the engine checks. He was a bit late, which was no big deal, but it was odd enough in him that he knew it was noticed. He had wanted Izabelle to voice her feelings but she would not and so he was late.<p>

"Problems with the wife?" Logan asked in a drawl.

"Logan, do me a favor?" Hank replied calmly. "Shut up."

There was silence in the jet as the X-Men watched to see Wolverine's reaction. To their surprise he inclined his head slowly to Hank.

"My bad. Won't mention it again."

With a nod of acknowledgement the jet sped off into the night.

* * *

><p>"I just don't see how you're single," Izabelle laughed, throwing a cushion at Forge. Beside her Amara laughed, half listening as she played around on her computer.<p>

"Is that an offer?" Forge threw the pillow back.

"Hardly. Hank is more than enough, I assure you."

Forge grinned evilly and gestured at her belly. "Clearly."

Izabelle rolled her eyes while Amara laughed again. "Point being you should let us hook you up with someone. You just live in the wiring and you'll never meet anyone that way."

"And that's all Beast did, yet he landed you. If I could do nearly as well, I would be plenty happy. Besides, I'm not interested in being hooked up. You sound like my sisters."

"Have it your way," Amara piped up. "Some day some very pretty lady will come by and you will be begging us to get you with her."

* * *

><p>The Blackbird landed near a service entrance to Worthington Industries' Pharmaceuticals building. Warren had voiced worry that attacks might be leveled at his father; they had worked on a mutant indicator that would mark pierced skin and while it was not working the mutant community was understandably up in arms about it.<p>

Logan, Rouge, Warren, Hank, Kurt, and Jean Grey exited the Blackbird silent as shadows. Logan's original plan of a three-man team had wisely been 'adjusted' by Xavier and had eased a few of Izabelle's fears.

"Rouge and Hank, look through tight spots and shadows. Any hint of where they could come or go. Jean and Warren, get above the building and do the same. Warn us if you see anything advancing. Kurt and I will get inside and look around there."

With silent nods the groups dispersed and Hank began to walk the edges of the building. The night was silent and something about this struck him as being odd but he could not place it.

"Beast!" Rouge was pointing into a corner shadowed by the building and the moon.

He did not have to come any nearer to know what it was she had found. He could smell the blood. But he had to see what had been done; it was the only way to know what these mutants were. Pushing Rouge protectively behind him, Hank had a closer look. There was _so much_ blood: this was the first thought he had. They had been cut open while they were still very alive. Why had they not struggled? The others there had been horribly beaten. It was just so odd.

"Logan, you better watch out. The security guards are…very dead."

A crackle of static brought them, Warren's alarmed voice. "The sewers! They're coming out of the sewers!"

Spinning, Hank could see four or five figures running at himself and Rouge, manhole covers thrown aside. Hank knew all about not looking human but these mutants were on another level. They were disfigured and lacked any sign of humanity at all.

"Sorry, Hank!" Rouge called to him.

"Why is that, Marie?"

"Told your wife I'd keep you out of danger!"

With a balanced kick, the first mutant fell, arms out. It was fortunate that Rouge had kicked before she had seen it was a child. She certainly would have held back and this was no mere child; this girl had hands the size of hams. Yanking off a glove, a light touch gave Rouge the powers to freeze several of their attackers still as marble.

"That explains the vivisections!" Hank called over his shoulder, throwing a large scaly mutant against the building.

"They're inside!" Kurt's voice broke over the com device. "Warren, Jean! Ve need you!"

"Go!" Rouge seconded. "We're fine out here!"

But in the shadows, behind the bodies, a woman stood with a smile. "Maybe not so fine," she murmured.

Tripping over the leg of a dead guard, Hank fell back, catching himself but passing perfectly within her grasp. One touch was all it took…

Hank felt someone touch him though he was not sure where the person was. But even as he watched the scaly mutant he fought, it disappeared before his eyes. A clawed hand swiped his face and gashed his cheek. He was able to land a punch blindly, but a return punch in the nose made stars burst across his vision.

Rouge could not believe what she saw. The mutant Hank had just been thrashing was now thrashing him. Beast was fighting like a drunk. "Beast! Hit him!"

"I can't see him!" he yelled back, alarmed. "He's invisible!"

"No he's not! To your left, Beast!"

A kick in the ribs again sent him sprawling. Panic flooded him and he tried mightily to regain balance and control. Rouge could do nothing but try to fight her way to him, but this would take time.

Behind him, still in shadow, a woman concentrated with all of her might.

A realization landed on Hank and he closed his eyes. Maybe he couldn't see but he had _excellent_ senses. Eyes still closed, he swung his leg out, swiping the feet out from under someone much smaller than who he thought he was fighting. There was a feminine shriek and Hank could smell the strong blood of the dead guards.

Opening his eyes, he saw a flash of white and dripping red hands. Then it was gone, in the same way the scaly mutant had disappeared.

Hank felt his head clear. He caught the foot of the large mutant deftly and squeezed, a red mist sweeping before his eyes. Someone was in his head and someone was tampering with his vision. He felt the bones break and he threw the scaly mutant to the ground. Leaping on the mutant, Beast began to punch wildly.

"Beast, stop it!" Rouge's voice shrilled in his ear. She had managed her attackers just in time to witness Hank's sudden clarity. Now she feared he would do something he would regret later.

A growl came from behind them and Logan physically tackled Beast. Their sewer mutants had made a hasty retreat and so the X-Men had gone looking for Beast and Rouge.

"He's not yer problem, Beast," Logan yelled into his friend's ear.

Slowly, Beast calmed, fighting back snarls.

"Someone…" he gasped as Logan released him, "Someone was in my head. I couldn't see the mutant. But Rouge could."

For the first time he began to really feel his injuries. His face throbbed and his fur was soaked. It hurt to breathe and he was missing a few chunks here and there.

"There's no one else here, Hank," Jean soothed. "Whoever it was is gone now."

"How?"

"The same way they came. The sewers. They must live there."

Hank nodded. "Infinite locations and no one to bother you."

"Let's get out of here," Rouge encouraged, looking worried. "There's nothing else we can do here."

* * *

><p>Izabelle paced, biting her nails back to the skin. Logan was keeping her from Hank and Izabelle knew why. She grimaced as she remembered the rather colorful language she had used at being kept from Hank.<p>

The door to the med labs opened and Jean nodded to Izabelle. She was in quickly and was shocked and relieved at what she saw. He looked better than she had assumed he would though he still looked awful.

Puffy- eyed, Hank smiled over at her, his smile cut off by a bandage covering his cheek. "I assure you, I will recover fully."

Izabelle nodded quietly and tried to hide her own discomfort. She had been having waves of pain ever since Hank had gotten back, radiating from her torso. But now was not the ideal time to bring pregnancy concerns to him.

Once they were alone, Izabelle climbed into the bed with him, resting her head under his chin.

"What happened?"

"Xavier believes it must be a sort of vision control. Being able to cast invisibility on others." He sighed. "As a result, you see me as I am now."

"Why do _you_ always get hurt?"

"While it is not fair, Logan and myself do take the worst beatings as a necessity of the fighting we do. He has the advantage of healing nearly instantaneously, however."

"He can go to hell."

"There were a few other suggestions I rather liked as well." She glowed scarlet but Hank only laughed. "I think he has given up trying to punish you for it; it would appear you simply impress him now."

Silence settled around them and Izabelle was nodding off when Hank spoke again.

"I will not keep this from you, Izabelle. It is nearly certain that more will have to be done to find and stop these mutants."

She sat up so quickly it made her a little dizzy. "You are not serious."

"Lives are at risk and if we who can defend those lives do not fight what hope is there?"

"And what of this life?" Izabelle exclaimed, grabbing his hand and placing it on her stomach.

His hand lingered, massaging gently. "But you made this same choice not so long ago."

"That was so different!"

"How?"

Izabelle shook her head. They had this conversation every time he was beat up like this and he never seemed to see her side of it. She had nothing to lose when she had gone after him. Now there was so much more at stake. Not that she thought he didn't care; it just seemed he couldn't see this from any other angle. She pushed herself gently off the bed and smoothed his hair off of his forehead.  
>"I'm going to bed. It's late. Should you stay here or…?"<p>

"I would much prefer to sleep beside you." He stood slowly to avoid becoming dizzy.

"I'm glad you are okay, Henry."

He could hear the worry in her voice and he kissed her deeply, lifting her face to his. "I love you, Izabelle. I simply do not know any other way to show this."

She nodded quietly, trying to ignore the pain below her stomach.

* * *

><p>Izabelle woke suddenly and acutely aware of pain. Her muscles were all clenched as if gripped in a full body charlie-horse. Another spasm shook her, and involuntarily a scream tore from her. Her legs were wet and panic chilled her. She shoved Hank hard, hoping to wake him from his exhaustion-deep slumber.<p>

Hank woke more slowly than usual, on account of his injuries, but even then he was quickly at her side. The first thing he saw was a growing, deep red stain that was causing the covers to cling to her legs. Then came the now familiar scent of blood.

"No…" He was in disbelief, frozen for a moment.

Izabelle screamed again as another wave of pain hit her and her hands balled into fists, clutching handfuls of his fur. Snapping back to himself, Hank began to lift her off of the bed. Her screaming grew shriller, if possible, and hit pitches that caused his sensitive ears to throb. Replacing her gently on the bed, Hank raced to the door and tore down the hall, seeking someone who could move her without lifting her. By some uncanny stroke of luck, Kurt was perched in the entry chandelier. Before Hank spoke, a scream reached them. Kurt's luminous eyes opened wide.

"Get her to my lab!"

There were two puffs and Kurt had beaten Hank to the med lab. "Do you need my help?"

As if in response, Izabelle grabbed the three fingered hand and squeezed hard. Kurt bit his lip in pain but wrapped his other hand around hers. If this was what she needed, he would deal with it.

After fumbling and cursing loudly, Hank threw his pince-nez across the room where it shattered. He knew he would regret that but his face was so swollen they were completely useless. Tossing a sheet over Izabelle's lower half, more for Kurt than anything else, he knelt, trying to find the cause of her pain. Kurt blushed and used his tail to brush Izabelle's hair out of her clammy face.

"Oh my stars and garters…" Hank stood, paling. "She's having contractions."

"She's only six months…" the other mutant breathed. Izabelle began to weep and Kurt focused his attention back on her as Hank dove wildly about the room.

Hank knew he needed a muscle relaxant. The contractions were not labor related but very premature and far more aggressive. When he finally reappeared, he had a large needle in his hand. Izabelle moaned, shaking her head. and it broke his heart completely. "I'm so sorry, my love, but I must."

Slowly, he inserted the long needle into her belly and injected the clear, cold liquid. Izabelle could feel her muscles releasing their control on her; she felt her body relax and she was able to lie back against the bed for the first time since this had begun. Utterly exhausted and the drug taking effect, her eyes closed heavily and she slept.

With a groan of relief, Kurt pulled his hand from hers, rubbing it and shaking life back into it. Hank was examining his prone wife and when he was sure she had stabilized he did not get up but slumped over against a row of cabinets.

"Vat vas that?"

"It was panic and stress and worry. It was her body attacking her. Her lining is too thin and the contractions caused a break and so…" Hank gestured at the bloody sheets.

"Vould you like me to bring anyone?"

Hank stood looking horribly weary. "No, Kurt. She should be okay. Thank you. Truly."

Kurt nodded, resting a hand on Hank's shoulder before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Leaning his head back against a cabinet door, Hank allowed himself a few short-lived tears.

* * *

><p>Izabelle woke feeling weak. Her throat hurt and she shook as she rolled onto her side.<p>

"Morning, sunshine." Forge was watching her from across the room where he sat, his feet propped up against the counter. "I'm supposed to ask you what you remember."

"Where's Hank?"

"Professor made him go to bed. He needs to recover too. What do you remember?"

Izabelle blushed, not having any inclination to explain it to Forge, of all people.

"That's a good sign. You can spare me the gory details."

"Gladly. Do you know anything about the baby?"

"The baby should be fine." Forge put his feet down and handed her a chart attached to a clipboard.

Izabelle scanned the narrow, almost flourishing handwriting that she knew to be Hank's. Words jumped out at her as she scanned it. _Thin uterine lining…Hysterical spasms and contractions…Both are stabilized…_

But one note at the bottom delivered a shock she had not expected. _Cannot be seriously worried or upset…__leave X-Men_. The last bit was written in large letters and underlined for emphasis.

"He's leaving the X-Men?" She stared at Forge wide-eyed. "But why?"

"I'm guessing he'll discuss that with you himself. At any rate, I was supposed to show you the chart and then tell you to sleep. I was given permission to sedate you if necessary." He waggled his eyebrows at her teasingly but she only smiled weakly. Her lack of spirit hurt Forge and he could not help but be serious. "You lost a lot of blood. Promise me you'll stay here and sleep."

"I promise. You aren't allowed to get somber on me."

"And you aren't allowed to be sick. I lose my best worker." He smiled down at her before snapping off the lights and leaving her to sleep with the quietly beeping machines.

* * *

><p><em>Not where I originally intended on leaving it but I think it's a nice 'cliffhanger.'<em>

_Please review! It inspires me on to new and quicker chapters! ;-) _


	6. Chapter 6:Turning Tables

**Chapter 6: Turning Tables**

"Morning, lovely."

The rumbling voice broke through her half-sleep and Izabelle opened her eyes slowly. A smile spread across her face and Hank took her hand.

"Feeling better?"

"I could ask you the same," she replied, quietly. She was now dressed in her maternity sweats and one of Hank's few T-shirts.

"I've healed," he reassured, gesturing to his much improved appearance. His eye was nearly normal and his gashes were just shinny blue scars.

"But I haven't?" Izabelle spoke to her belly and didn't meet his eyes.

Hank's expression changed and he looked sadder and older. "I am afraid not. It will be some time before we can say you have totally healed."

"You mean three months from now."

Hank nodded, squeezing her hand gently.

"How can leaving the X-Men possibly help? Just yesterday you were giving me a motivational speech about why you needed to be with the X-Men and now…" She broke off as she got choked up. "Damn hormones!"

Hank could not resist a brief smile, but he was quickly serious again. "Things are different now. You are in danger as long as I put myself in harm's way. The sum of the parts is that as long as you are stressed or experience any sort of hysteria there is a chance that last night could repeat itself."

"But after what you said–"

"That is no longer valid," Hank interrupted. He watched Izabelle's expression change to annoyance and he changed his tone. "When I said that, I was working to protect you and our baby, but now…it would be working at a cross purpose. If I endanger you by remaining with the X-Men then my goal – your safety – is destroyed."

"But…" Izabelle could not believe she was about to make this argument but it worried her. "What about everyone here? Who will protect _them_?"

Hank beamed down at his wife. She had begun her time at the mansion as someone who worried about their own back, and not unfairly, but now it seemed the larger purpose was beginning to set in. "I see Logan _can _be effective after all."

"I'm serious, Henry."

Hank left the room momentarily and returned, hanging by his feet and peeling an apple. He offered her a piece and Izabelle finally noticed something was missing.

"Your glasses! Where are they?"

"I may or may not have caused a fracture in the lenses."

"Lenses? Not just one?"

He pulled the empty frames out of the pocket and handed them to her. "Again, I may or may not have done so. I should have a new pair before the evening is nigh."

He nodded and bit into his half of the apple, dropping into a stool next to her bed. With his foot he wound the back of the bed up, propping her into a sitting position. Izabelle took the other apple half from him and ate it absently.

Hank picked up where the conversation had dropped. "There _are_ other X-Men. Several teams. And of course I will still be here," he motioned to the lab. "Whatever they need in all areas chemical or medical shall still provide my very best services."

"Will you resent me? In time, I mean? And don't tell me you couldn't, because we both know you could." The question burst out of her. Izabelle had wanted Hank to be safer but not at such a cost.

Hank grimaced and stared into space. A rather vivid memory of him leaving Izabelle crying at the top of a flight of stairs flashed across his mind and he swiped it aside mentally. He was a romantic and that part of him rebelled against the idea of ever resenting someone he loved. But the realist in him knew he could grow to hate her given the right (or rather wrong) circumstances.

"I do not think I will, no." He answered, finally making eye contact with her again. "I still anticipate going on some missions and I shall have plenty to do here. If the only option left to me were inactive unemployment, maybe. But this I can do. That is why I told Charles this morning."

"HANK!" Izabelle's shout made his ears ring so close to his head but he knew he deserved that. She slugged him in the leg as hard as she could, which was harder than he expected. "Without talking to me?"

"What would a life changing event be if I did not do something to make you angry?" A sneaky smile spread across his face and Izabelle stared for a minute before bursting out into laughter.

"No kidding. You jerk!" But she was smiling now and that made him feel lighter.

The door to the lab banged open and angry footsteps echoed down the room.

"And it would appear Charles told them..." Izabelle whispered.

Iceman appeared around the corner, totally iced over and scowling. "You could have at least warned me! You know, _your friend_!"

The temperature in the room dropped steadily even as he stood in the room and Hank stood between Izabelle and Bobby, trying to take the full force of the cold. Izabelle tried to not react, but she could not help but shiver.

"Calm down, Bobby," Hank tried to soothe. "It's not personal. It is simply–"

The room took another blast of cold as Bobby balled his fists and Izabelle whimpered.

"ENOUGH!" Hank roared, his fur standing on end and his eyes flashing. "SHE'S PREGNANT! If you want to have it out with me, FINE! But you'll not hurt her!"

The room was electric-tense. After a few moments, something seemed to turn inside of Bobby and the room slowly began to warm again. Quickly, Hank worked on rubbing warmth back into Izabelle's arms and legs until she loudly insisted she was fine.

"I'll just go upstairs and lie down there." It took some coaxing but finally Hank agreed that she could make it that far on her own.

The latch on the door shut and Bobby's expression immediately darkened. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know."

"How can you possibly not know? What could have happened in twelve hours?"

Hank stared levelly at his friend and then handed him Izabelle's chart. Bobby's eyes scanned and widened at the words "severe hemorrhaging."

"Holy shit…" were the only words he offered as he passed the chart back to Hank.

"Indeed." Hank rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Have I managed to cause everyone to take umbrage?"

"Xavier explained it was for the baby but didn't…go into details. Logan said it was a 'damn shame' but didn't press it. Scott was thick, like usual. Ororo's with her plants, so she'll be fine. Warren stormed off. Kurt didn't say anything."

"Kurt was here; he brought her here."

"Ah…"

"We are not leaving. No matter what comes."

Bobby smiled sheepishly. "That's good to know. Honestly."

"I suppose I should run damage control."

Bobby jumped up quickly. "No. I'll do it. Check on Izabelle."

"Are you certain?"

"Yeah. After all, she's carrying your baby." Bobby grinned at him and clapped him on the shoulder before leaving the lab.

* * *

><p>Mercifully, the X-Men were fairly forgiving once they understood there was more at play than just discomfort or worry.<p>

But of course their lives were not destined to be idle. A week later, an unexpected piece of mail arrived.

"Hank! Mail!" Kurt dropped by his tail in front of Hank, knocking over his juice. Grabbing at napkins, Kurt blotted up the spreading orange puddle while Hank took the envelope and glowered. Down the table with Tabitha, he could hear Izabelle laughing.

When he looked at the envelope he held though, his heart dropped. Hank opened the letter and scanned it, immediately crashing his fist into the table. Everyone stared as he stood quickly and left his half finished breakfast behind him. As soon as the door closed behind him, Izabelle was headed for the door on her end of the room, hoping to intersect him somewhere in the halls. She found him in the library reading and re-reading the contents.

"Henry? What is it?" Subconsciously, her hands went to her belly.

"You will kill me. And I will deserve it in every possible way."

"What have you done?"

Hank was embarrassed by how calmly she said that. "I accepted an invitation to speak at a debate over recent registration legislation and the value of mutant liberties."

"But that's normal. What's the problem?"

"They wanted you to come as well. I told them I would think about it and speak with you but it slipped my mind."

"Still not so bad…"

Hank held out a lovely sheet of cream parchment paper and Izabelle took it.

"The National Debate Society would like to invite you to attend… blah blah blah…WHAT?"

Hank cringed and for such a big man he looked very small and cowed.

"Guest speakers will be Dr. Henry McCoy, joined by his wife, Izabelle Rowan McCoy?"

"Apparently they took my silence as a yes."

"Apparently!" Izabelle stared at the paper in her hands, which had begun to shake.

"Turn it over."

Izabelle scanned the text aloud. "As a mutant who is expecting, Izabelle will have the foremost knowledge and opinions on mutant children and mutant rights for the present and future." She looked up at Hank, her eyes blazing. "They want to use me as a sympathy prop because I'm pregnant!"

"You are still shouting, dear."

"I'm still angry!" She shoved the letter back at him and stormed out of the room.

"Izabelle… Now really is not the time to do anything rash," Hank called after her, following quickly.

"Now is the perfect time to do something rash!" She reached their room and grabbed Hank's address book and her cell phone.

Hank made a grab for her phone and was surprised to find her hand around his throat. "Izabelle…"

"Back off or I will make you." Her voice was dangerous and he retreated to his chair in the corner of the room. Maybe this was a day where her powers were gone or weak, but it might also be a day where she could level a city; either way he didn't want to find out.

What followed was a surprisingly short conversation where Izabelle threatened to take the use of her name without her permission to the courts and her pregnancy being used as an appeal to emotion to the papers. The extremely apologetic man on the other end promised to make it very clear that only a brief statement would be given by her and that no questions would be taken.

Finally, she hung up and, grabbing her purse, Izabelle headed for the door.

"Where –?"

"To buy a dress. My only formal gown is from before I was pregnant."

The door slammed and Hank allowed himself a small smile.

* * *

><p>Even though it had been agreed that no questions would be taken after her statement, those who disagreed with Hank and Izabelle's policy saw the dinner as fair game, in particular one young man next to Izabelle. Hank had been seated across the table from her and so she was left to defend herself on her own.<p>

"I just cannot help but feel –" the young man pulled out her chair for her, as he spoke. Overconfident as he was, he was still very polite. This soothed Izabelle's nerves somewhat, considering the last function she had gone to with Hank had resulted in her disappearance.

"You cannot know the outcome of your child. Human or mutant, it cannot be known. Are we to punish our unborn for crimes they haven't even had the chance to commit?"

"Does everyone need the chance to commit a crime for life to be fair?"

Izabelle rolled her eyes. "Our income disparity would certainly be much smaller if that were even possible."

The man smiled at her and continued. "There are those of you who can predict the future, correct?"

"Yes, but you can't know if that is one possible future or an exact story of what will happen, which is really more of a metaphysical question. And if it is one future it does not guarantee the events will happen as they appear. Besides there is always the Oracle of Delphi to remember."

"How so?"

"Everyone has self-interest. The Oracle had to protect herself and precogs must do the same. Besides, everyone is ignoring the very simple fact that my baby may or may not be a mutant at all."

"With all due respect," the man laughed, "your husband hardly leaves that to question don't you think?"

"It is a question of genetics, sir, and not quite so simple." Hank cut in from across the table. "A recessive gene may become dominant in any child. Just looking at Izabelle it is clear she is of human genetics."

Izabelle blushed as all eyes set on her in a much different way: they were examining. She had bough the first dress that had fit, an empire-waist wine-colored silk dress, and the bare shoulders made her a bit self-conscious.

Hank continued once he noticed her discomfort. "Ten years ago the same could have been said of myself. The simple truth is since our child is of two very different genetic parents, anything really could happen. And now the conversation has come full circle and you can allow my poor wife to eat. I am sure she is starving,"

Izabelle mouthed the words 'thank you' to him when someone to her left addressed her.

"But this is not just a matter of choosing a future. This is a matter of having more power than a child could reasonably handle." The tone was concerned, but it wasn't clear just who the speaker was worried for.

"Do you know what a child could reasonably handle?" Izabelle fired back, annoyed.

"I like to think I do, yes. You cannot put a child behind the wheel of a car and ask them to drive."

"No. But you could teach them."

"You really think so?"

"I do. Let me ask _you_ something. How many mutants do you know?"

There was silence around the table and Hank was giving her a look. From down the table a waitress with white blonde hair had stopped serving and was watching.

"I would assume none from your silence," Izabelle continued. "I live with mutants. I hope to someday die with mutants. My husband, my lover, is a mutant. You have no idea what it is possible to teach someone to control. For some it is a daily battle, but they persist. But, since you are safe and unaware, you assume it is easy or not happening at all. I assure you, you are very wrong."

There was silence around the table and then someone began chit-chat and soon everyone was talking again. Hank shot a questioning look at her but she signaled she was alright.

The truth was she felt awful. She was burning up and the baby was kicking and her nerves had gotten to her stomach. Her gag reflex felt like it had crawled up to the middle of her mouth and she began to knot her napkin in her lap, trying to distract herself.

Meanwhile, the blonde waitress continued to watch her, now only a few people away.

Izabelle closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply. A hand touched the exposed skin on her shoulder and she began to jerk away. What stopped her was the feeling of sickness leaving her completely. Izabelle's hazel eyes locked with a set of very pale blue ones over her shoulder. The blonde waitress had her fingertips touching her and with every moment Izabelle felt better.

"Are you alright, miss?" the waitress asked her. Her little tag read "Adine" and there was a soft Canadian-French accent when she spoke.

"I am," Izabelle said, surprise clear in her voice.

"I am glad I could help," the waitress murmured, almost inaudibly, before setting the plate in front of Izabelle and moving quickly to the man on her right.

Hank was giving her a now even more bizarre look and Izabelle tucked her hair behind her ear, a signal that she would tell all later.

* * *

><p>The blonde waitress reached the end of the table, made sure she was of no interest, and quickly left the room. They would be one extra if she stuck around and she could not afford that.<p>

She had managed to leave a block of time open on the schedule, into which she had inserted herself, under her own human name to be clever. A "temp" who would draw no attention. She had waited tables before and out of all of the Morlocks she was the only one "presentable" enough to do the job. She preferred to do this kind of work herself anyway.

The trick was to be subtle and memorable. Half of the idiots below her didn't even know what subtle meant. But that was why she was in charge and not them. Besides, there had been something to gather as well as something to give this night.

Anesthesia vaulted out of the window she had entered and scrambled down the fire escape. She dropped to the pavement and heaved the nearest manhole cover aside.

Once in the sewers it was all memory. She was not Callisto and she could not see in the dark. But it was comparable to finding one's way out of a suburb; you just needed to remember how many lefts and rights until you got somewhere you knew. The trick was to not worry.

After an hour on foot, Anesthesia stepped into the large underground room she had sought. The room had originally been intended as a nuclear shelter, but few remembered it was here. Few remembered those that now filled the room as well. All eyes fixed on her and she stopped beside a group of bodies that had been wrapped in oilcloth and weighted.

They had suffered another attack. To the human world they were the aggressors, but there were forces working below, where it was not seen, to gather undesirables and ship them away. And when they fought back... She looked down at the bodies before speaking to the group.

"The child is a mutant."

A cheer went up and then silence. There was something of greater importance.

"And the gender, well, it's exactly as we hoped. It's time for our next step."

The roars were deafening as Anesthesia left the cavernous room.

* * *

><p><em>Soooooo...it's been a while. Sorry! End of the school year and then visitors for two weeks, etc.<em>

_All excuses aside, updates should be more regular now! _

_PLEASE review! :-)_


	7. Chapter 7: The Next Step

**Chapter 7: The Next Step**

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Izabelle sat up and Hank's arm was already across her protectively. Someone was pounding on the door and since they were the only ones who resided on the first floor, they were the first to hear it.

"Stay," Hank ordered, an edge of worry in his voice.

"Like hell," Izabelle fired back, grabbing her robe and following him down the hall. She may be pregnant but the baby and/or hormones had her powers blasting at full force right now and she was sure she could level a city block.

"I mean it, Izabelle," Hank reiterated, trying to block her way.

"Listen," she hissed back in the hall, "I'm not supposed to be stressed, right? And nothing will stress me more than lying in bed while you creep around in the dark by yourself against who knows what!"

He sighed, knowing he couldn't move her and motioned for her to be quiet. They padded down the hall as Scott and Jean were tip-toeing down the stairs. The small group huddled around the door, with Hank insisting on pushing Izabelle behind him.

With a strong yank, Beast threw the door wide open and a figure dropped to the floor, apparently having been propped against the door. White-blonde hair spilled around her on the floor and Izabelle let out a shriek. Everyone stared as she knelt by the figure and, wiping away blood with her robe, revealed the woman's face.

"It's her Hank! It's the waitress!"

Hank knelt quickly by his wife, earning more puzzled glances, now from Cannonball and Sunspot as well. A group was growing, the banging having woken more than a few people in the school. Leaning down, Beast inhaled deeply. The smell of blood masked other smells, among them sewers, but her own smell was one he recognized; he had met her before somewhere and if Izabelle recognized her…

"Get her into my lab." Sam and Roberto acted quickly to carry her between them down the stairs.

"X-Men, down. Everyone else, back to bed," Logan barked. Grumbling arose but the sound of claws coming out sent the students back to bed. "Come on." Logan took Izabelle's bloody robe from her and led her with a firm grip on her elbow to the labs below.

"I can carry my robe," Izabelle protested.

"Best if you don't," was the curt reply. "Blood diseases."

Izabelle nodded, slightly embarrassed that Logan was more aware about how to protect the baby than she was. But at the same time, Logan generally was more aware of things that could do harm than she was.

When they reached the lab, Hank had already begun working at closing the wounds on the woman's body. There was a sizeable gash across her high cheekbones and she had a bleeding hole in her shoulder.

"We need to get her clothes off of her," Hank spoke, thinking aloud. "Cannot get at her shoulder with this jacket… Forge, cut."

Forge blushed but acted quickly, his arm morphing into perfectly sharp blades, and running the scissors down the length of the woman's shirt. Hank peeled away her top and there was a gasp from Jean Grey. A massive burn, long since healed, covered the midsection of the mystery woman.

"Someone has a knack for getting into trouble," Logan mused.

"What do you mean by that?" Scott asked quickly.

"This is hardly a first for her, now is it?'

Hank dropped an object into a metal dish, checking to see that no pieces of clothing had gone into the shoulder with it.

"Not a bullet…a bone." Hank showed the tray to Jean.

"But it's not hers!"

"It would seem not."

Quick stitches and her shoulder would be fine; the shot had missed her bone entirely and the muscle would heal. Superglue, applied by Jean because Hank had a tendency to get fur in the glue, patched the woman's cheek and would reduce the scarring.

Inside of twenty minutes, a woman lay before the X-Men, sedated and quietly sleeping under a sheet, with no indication to who or what she was. For this they turned to Izabelle, at least until the Professor arrived. Jean had already attempted but her memories were so fragmented that it would take someone with more power than her.

"You said she was your _waitress_?" Bobby asked, sitting on a counter as Hank washed his hands. Once they were clean, a firm shove sent Bobby off of the counters.

"At the Debate dinner. I felt horrible and she healed me. Then she made a point of telling me it was her."

"And _why _would she do that?" Logan snorted, suspicious.

"I had just chewed someone out about how some of us have to try pretty hard to suppress our powers, for the sake of humans. I think she wanted to say thanks."

There was a contemplative silence in the lab. That was something most of them could identify with.

The sound of the Professor's chair caused everyone to jump. "That is most interesting. Did you have any physical signs of illness?"

"No. Just usual pregnancy stuff: hot flashes, nausea, pain…"

Xavier put his fingertips together, looking at the woman on the table. "I wonder what her powers could be."

"Sir? Isn't she a healer?"

"No, Cerebro did not recognize her as such. She didn't heal you; she made you feel better."

"Isn't that the same?"

"No…" Xavier carefully aligned his fingertips across the woman's head and closed his eyes.

_Someone was chasing. They tackled her and her screams broke the night air. Someone produced hairspray and someone else, a lighter. She was stretched out and then…blinding pain. _

Charles visibly jerked as he experienced the burn through her memories.

_She had been left. She was dying, her clothes melted and burned to her body. But someone was there. A group was carrying her, down below the streets, through the sewers and through the darkness…_

From there, nothing was solid. It was clear she had stayed with her rescuers because many of the images were in darkness. And many were violent as well. Xavier saw a flash of something very familiar but he did not have time to place what it had been and he could not go back. Her memories played out without any control from him, fractured and disconnected.

"Professor!"

Charles jerked his hands away and Hank quickly leaned over the shaking woman, working to stabilize her.

"Seizures…" Hank murmured, injecting another vial into her IV drip.

"Are you okay, Professor?" Jean asked, obviously recognizing something had gone awry.

"Her memories are scattered and broken beyond repair." Logan stood up, looking more attentive. Charles continued, "However, I have no control over what I see. They almost took on a life of their own, playing out without order or sense."

"I would hazard a guess that she will have physical symptoms like this whenever a further attempt is made," Hank added, perched on a stool and checking her pupils.

"Your reason, Henry?"

"Those seizures had nothing to do with her health. Aside from weariness and blood loss and maybe slight malnourishment, she is perfectly healthy." Hank passed the papers the computer had been spitting out since he had fed it a blood sample. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It would seem related or triggered by your delve into her mind."

"Someone did this to her?" They had all nearly forgotten Forge until he raised the question they were all thinking.

"Yes. But not human. Another mutant," Xavier mused, thinking over what he had seen. "She is from our sewer group."

Logan bristled, remembering the slaughter and the ambush. "And _why_ is she _here_?"

"It would appear she needs help."

Logan started to protest but Xavier held up a hand to silence him. "Regardless we won't be pushing her out of our doors tonight. Someone will be left with her at all times and we will deal with this in the morning."

Scott volunteered for the first shift, with Jean following, then Bobby. But even after they were back in bed, Hank could tell Izabelle could not sleep.

"How is our child?" he asked sleepily.

"Calm, for once. It's not that."

"The woman?"

"Yeah." Izabelle rolled onto her side, hazel eyes meeting blue. "I can't help but feel she means well."

"I understand," he sympathized, brushing hair out of her face. "But you have to admit, showing up with a hole in your shoulder after being part of a terrorist cell looks bad."

She nodded. "But still…"

He leaned over, planting a kiss on her head. "All in good time. You need sleep."

* * *

><p>The next morning there was talk of the new mutant being up and about. Fall brought the beginning of the new school term and it took quite some doing to get the students to their classes, what with the promise that the woman might show up. But a very pregnant (nearly seven months) Izabelle scowling at them got rid of quite a few of them.<p>

"Seriously! She isn't a zoo animal," Izabelle huffed into the fridge.

"Just an animal, then?"

Izabelle jumped about a foot and smacked her head on the fridge she had been leaning into. She rubbed her head and found herself facing the waitress. Cleaned off and mostly whole (her arm was in a sling to support her shoulder), it was clear she was the same woman. And the accent was very distinct. Her hair hung in long blonde waves and her face looked like it had been carved from stone. Not unattractive but very sharply built with high cheekbones. She was wearing the standard sort of things that were given to people arriving with nothing: grey Xavier's shirt and sweatpants.

"Not quite what I was getting at," Izabelle quipped back. "How are you feeling?"

The waitress smiled, though it did not look like it came easily. "Glad I made it."

"This was your endgame, then?" Hank asked, from behind her.

The woman's reaction to being snuck up on was immediate and more drastic than either of them would have expected. She spun sharply and had placed the island between herself and Hank within moments. Hank did not react, merely raising his eyebrows at her calmly.

"Sorry," she mumbled, though now she kept her back to a wall. "Old habit. Yes, I did want to be here. Any of us have heard of this place."

"What is your name?" It had just dawned on Izabelle that though she remembered who the woman was she did not at all remember her name.

Another tight smile and she replied, "Anesthesia. You?"

"Izabelle. Or Amnesia, I suppose. That is my husband: Hank."

"Beast," he volunteered. He was not at all convinced that this woman could be trusted. Sure Wolverine was like this, but Wolverine could not be implicitly trusted either.

"So that's your" Anesthesia pointed at the two of them, "baby?"

Izabelle could not help but smile broadly. "Yes. It is."

"When are you due?"

Hank's head cocked to the side. An interest in children was not what he would have credited this woman with but she seemed to perk up when the conversation had come around to the baby.

"Late November."

"Boy or girl?"

"Don't know."

"I could tell you."

Izabelle's eyes locked with hers and worry covered her features instinctively. "How can you possibly know?"

Anesthesia held up her hand in defense. "Nothing bad. I could tell you that there are two teleporters here, two powerful telepaths, half a dozen energy manipulators, and one healer. And that's just in the next several rooms."

Hank could not help but be fascinated. "You sense mutations in others. But what about–"

"I'm not a healer," she cut him off. "But I can manipulate the senses. Touch is easy, obviously. Smell is the most difficult. Here…" She lightly touched Izabelle's arm and the throbbing in her head from the smack on the fridge went away.

"But I'm still hurt," Izabelle said, feeling the bump on her head.

"Yeah."

"And if you can sense our child…" Hank spoke his thoughts aloud as they came to him.

"Your baby is a mutant," Anesthesia finished with a genuine grin.

Izabelle and Hank did not have time to react to the news because Xavier chose that exact moment to appear in the kitchen.

"It would seem you are rested and well, Adine."

"Yes, Professor. Thank you, Professor." She bowed as she spoke to him.

"That's a lovely name," Izabelle volunteered. She felt as though she should give something in return for what she saw as very good news.

"My grandmother's," Adine responded with another tight smile.

"I have some questions I need to ask you," Xavier continued, maintaining eye contact with Adine. "About how you came to be here for example."

"Can't you read my mind?"

"Your memories are seriously fragmented."

"That's Boost." It was a comment out loud to herself, but at the questioning looks she explained. "A mutant. He can step inside of mutant and their powers triple, but it does something to the patterns of your mind. It scrambles them."

"So you voluntarily underwent this?"

"I never said that." Adine held Xavier's gaze. She knew with certainty that he could never find his way around her mind. She had ensured it. What she had told him about Boost was true and unless she actively recalled a memory, he could never see more than she wanted.

"And how did you come across Boost?"

"The Morlocks…"

"Is that what they call themselves? Our group below the city?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you acted on their behalf?"

"Yes, sir." Adine's responses were short and it was clear she had no desire to elaborate, for whatever reason.

"What has changed this?"

"I had heard you would take anyone and I was working at the debate." She nodded toward Hank and Izabelle. "Heard them speak and I decided to come."

Izabelle gave her husband an 'I told you so' look and he made a teasing face in return.

"I take it that this decision was not met with appreciation by your colleagues?"

Adine snorted loudly at the word colleagues and leaned back against a counter. "I am sure you know well enough, Professor, that a lot of mutants slip through the cracks. Half of them are down there. Most of them are too…unattractive to reside topside. I was an unusual case. It was never much appreciated that I worked with people. When I tried to leave…" She indicated her shoulder.

"In which case you were very fortunate. Our X-Men have encountered worse from them."

Hank knew what Xavier was doing and was grateful. It seemed too lucky that no serious injuries had been sustained from a terrorist cell that had given him a run for his money. It also seemed fortunate that she had met, and helped, Izabelle before her arrival.

"I picked my moment well," she answered, unmoved. "Any night there is an attack and a scavenging party there are almost none left as guards."

Anesthesia recalled a memory, hoping to draw him out, and she was rewarded by the touch of his mind against hers. Charles saw her pursuers, saw her fall and inflict pain with one touch, and saw her run. A bone spur pierced her shoulder but she was already gone…

Xavier sighed inwardly. He did not like having to make these decisions at all. He did not entirely trust her but he could not bear to send her away either.

"I am willing to agree to let you reside here on two conditions."

Adine's eyes lit up for the first time in the conversation. "Professor?"

"One, you will join a team and train with them. You must learn how to use your powers in a constructive way, outside of inflicting pain."

She nodded, her blonde hair waving.

"Two, there is to be no contact between you and the Morlocks and you will not be assigned or allowed to join any missions involving them. We hope to establish some contact with them in the future and to negotiate with them and your position could be a danger."

She nodded again, waiting.

"I hope you will enjoy being here and will earn the trust of those on your team." He locked eyes with her and all he could see was someone who was honestly happy because of this news. He turned his attention to Hank and Izabelle. "I believe you both have classes in the near future so I will show her around the mansion myself."

Izabelle and Hank left with a wave and a smile. Once they were gone, Hank caught Izabelle up in his arms, spinning her and grinning from ear to ear.

"Our baby is a mutant," Izabelle breathed. "I wouldn't think that could make me this happy!"

* * *

><p>As she followed Xavier down the hall, Anesthesia could not help but smile. She was now a resident of the Xavier Mansion, along side what could be the strongest mutant child yet born. This was very good news indeed.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8: In the Danger Room

_It has been AGES! So sorry! I told Stormysongbird I would work on another chapter "that week" like two weeks ago and indeed I did but huge writer's block kicked in along with the new school year and the result was just... bad. _

_But here it is! A new chapter!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: In the Danger Room<strong>

Adine fit well in the framework of the school. She was already somewhat experienced in combat and was quickly bumped into the New Mutants training group. She was quiet, solitary, and easy to get along with. She had been given Rhane as a roommate and Rhane said it was often as though she was not even there.

Hank, however, did not, could not, trust her. There had been moments in the following month where she had been in a place, or up at a time, for which no good explanation had been given.

For example, a week after she had arrived, Hank had wandered down into the lab, looking for results on a test for Scott, to find Adine rifling through drawers in his desk.

"Surely, you can explain what you are doing?" he had asked, trying to keep the distrust that flooded through him out of his voice.

"Looking for gauze," she responded, unruffled. As she faced him he could see a good sized cut down her arm.

"And why would that be in my desk?" He had moved slowly toward her, which had pushed her away from the desk in turn.

"I could find none anywhere else," she explained simply.

He let it slide but the drawer she had been opening when he entered was one containing file on each mutant he had worked with. From that point on he locked his filing cabinets and he never found her in there alone again.

* * *

><p>Forge had taken to teaching Izabelle the workings of the Danger Room. It was a good idea to have someone who knew the system other than just himself and Izabelle picked it up fairly quickly.<p>

On one of these particular occasions Forge was working on a patch of floor in the Danger Room as Izabelle programmed different settings into it. There was a square foot or so that was "dead," not responding to anything programmed in, and Forge was rewiring it.

After about an hour, Forge sealed the chunk of floor back into place and called up to Izabelle, "Hit me!"

Instantly he regretted his phrasing but it was too late. The floor under him became a knee deep creek and he slipped on the mossy stones underfoot. He could hear her laughter around him as he waded out to the bank. Again, everything morphed and he was standing in a snowy tundra. Just as quickly it was now a tropical rainforest and then a desert.

But this time the landscape stayed. Someone else was in the Danger Room and Forge watched as she emerged from a shimmering heat haze. The white-blonde hair looked ethereal and fairy-like in combination with her white skin and in contrast with the sun-baked land around them.

Adine smiled up at the man in front of her who was dripping wet with snow melting out of his gorgeously dark hair.

"I heard a river, then wind, then birds and I could not resist. Forgive my curiosity."

"Consider it forgiven," Forge grinned back at her. He had completely forgotten about Izabelle, every bit of his attention now focused on Adine. "How do you find yourself settling in?"

"Well enough. Almost everyone is really welcoming."

"Almost everyone?"

"I don't get the impression Logan is ever really welcoming."

Forge laughed harder than the situation really called for and Adine beamed at him. It was the first time Izabelle had seen her smile in a natural way and she leaned forward, interested. Unfortunately, her belly was bigger than she remembered it being and she managed to knock a few switches as she leaned.

With a shout of surprise, Forge and Adine began to float through the air, now in a zero gravity room. Izabelle began working on setting it right but stopped when she saw Forge was explaining to Adine the best way to move in zero gravity. Adine seemed interested in figuring it out, and, after a few minutes, the pair was zipping around the room, colliding and laughing at intervals.

Izabelle watched them grinning. This must be what Hank and I were like at first, she thought. It seemed so obvious, even after such a short time, that there was connection and attraction between them. Adine was surprised often by Forge's goofy nature and her dry sarcasm kept him laughing. But they would need down eventually and Izabelle wasn't interesting in stalking them _all_ day.

"Hey Forge!" she called over the intercom. "I just got here. Need any help getting down?"

Forge blushed and looked perplexed for a minute but her angle finally got through to him and he smiled over at the Control Room. "Sure thing! Give me a second!"

Kicking over to Adine, he couldn't help but blush as he slipped an arm around her waist.

"Sorry, but we wouldn't want you to break your pretty neck," he half teased.

She blushed as well and put her own arms around his neck. Forge's arm morphed easily into a grappling hook and he shot it around a beam.

"Alright, Izabelle!"

As gently as she could Izabelle eased gravity back to Earth normal, watching them drift down in a straight line from the hook. Slowly, Forge reeled out line until they had their feet on the ground.

"That is a very handy mutation," Adine quipped, fussing with her hair to hide her pink face.

"But you already knew what it was before we even met."

"Still…"

Forge noticed the expression she had turned on him and could feel himself getting hot all over.

"I'm sure there is quite a bit yet to learn about you." She waved to him and exited the room.

Forge stood in the room slightly dazed; it had been a decently long time since he had met a woman that seriously interested him.

"Awwwwww!"

Forge glowered up at the Control Room, where Izabelle was less than subtly mocking him. "Oh shove it, you!" He left in a huff but the bad temper could not last more than ten seconds before an irrepressible smile grew across his features.

* * *

><p>"I don't want you around Anesthesia."<p>

The command surprised her and Izabelle turned slowly on her husband, pausing in the middle of decorating the baby crib.

"Seriously?" she asked, quirking her eyebrow. "She's no threat to you."

Hank stood looking serious. "Oh, but she is."

The edge in his tone got Izabelle's full attention. "You're serious… Why?"

"I cannot trust her and I…" he searched for the right words, words that were less possessive sounding than the ones running through his head, "cannot rest easy if you are with her."

"But why don't you trust her?"

"She keeps showing up where she shouldn't be when she shouldn't be there. And I cannot forget she was a Morlock, no matter how little proof we have of further contact with them."

Izabelle was cradling her belly without realizing it. She had never had any suspicions of Adine but Hank so rarely asked her not to do something that she could not take this seriously. Especially after what happened before they married…

"Have you told Xavier?"

"I have. Obviously, he can't see into her mind. He's been probing now and then, looking for a chink or a strain he could follow, but so far it appears he can only see whatever she is thinking of in that moment. Izabelle, please promise me you will not be alone with her."

"But Hank… she and Forge are always together."

"Someone should tell him too then."

"Hank! You can't! He really likes her!"

"Izabelle–"

"No!" And Hank was surprised to see her stamp her foot in frustration. "What if you are wrong? You'll ruin everything and for no reason! I'll stay away from her but leave Forge alone!"

The blue mutant looked troubled and wrapped his arms around his wife as he thought. "If we find anything concrete, you must tell him."

"I will," Izabelle murmured, burying her face in his chest. "I'll give her a wide berth until then. I'll be safe. I promise."

"Damn straight," Hank murmured into her hair.

Izabelle looked up with a shocked expression before bursting into laughter.

* * *

><p>Izabelle was now seven and a half months pregnant and Adine and Forge had gotten along very well in the past month. Forge's friends had been teasing him about not asking her out yet, but the occasion had never presented itself until now.<p>

She had shown up when he was working on a new system that would allow them to interact directly with projections and the two of them were currently chatting with a projection of the President about mutant policies.

A sly grin spread across her face and Izabelle decided to take her chance. Hank had reported no further incidents with Adine and it seemed as if the whole thing could have been a fluke or maybe just residual behaviors from her times with the Morlocks.

"Surely a lovely woman like yourself does not find herself single?"

Izabelle giggled manically as Forge glared angrily up at her for putting those words into the President's mouth.

"I rather do at the moment," Adine laughed in return.

"Perhaps we can remedy this?"

The President dissolved with a push of some buttons on the master control Forge carried with him.

"Obviously some malfunctions," he mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Oh? Would it bother you if I dated hologram President?" Adine teased back lightly. She really enjoyed Forge. Obviously, this had all begun as a way to bring herself one level closer to Izabelle, but she could not help but like him in a very real way.

Forge jerked a little at her words. It would bother him actually. It was stupid but he was very jealous at the idea of her even joking about dating someone else.

From the Control Room, a grin spread across Izabelle's face. Punching some buttons she sat back, her smile widening.

Forge watched as the Danger Room morphed into a nighttime stretch of Parisian shops and cafes. He shot a quick scowl up at where he knew the Control Room to be. But Adine didn't notice; she was busy admiring the view.

"This is lovely, Forge."

His pulse rocketed as he noticed the sweetness and heaviness of her tone.

"Well, I was wondering…would you have dinner with me? Outside of the mansion somewhere? Anywhere you want really."

"I would love that."

Forge's grin took on a giddy quality and he managed to set up a date and time after fumbling for a bit.

Once Adine had left, Izabelle grabbed the microphone next to her. "You're welcome, Forge."

He jumped about a mile, having forgotten Izabelle was still there. "Izabelle! Don't say anything! You know what they'll do! They'll harass us to death! Izabelle!"

But he was met with silence. Izabelle had left.

* * *

><p>Forge poked his head out around his doorframe and slipped out into the quiet hall. He tiptoed down the hall as best as he could. Someone spoke behind him, nearly causing him to jump out of his own skin.<p>

"Where might you be off too?"

Clutching at his heart he spun on Izabelle, wide eyed. "You could kill someone doing that!"

"It keeps you on your toes. You're ignoring the question."

His blush gave her as much answer as she needed.

"Play fair, Izabelle! The way you are now you could probably read every memory I have!"

She nodded absently. "And probably broadcast them a mile around in all directions." Absently, she rubbed her belly and smiled at his horrified expression. "You know I won't, don't look at me like that."

"Then what are you doing, sneaking up on a man like that?"

"Just repaying. You were downright evil when Hank and I got together."

"Oh come on! That was just perfect! Especially with the Danger Room incident!"

Izabelle's eyebrow quirked at him and he bit back a smile.

"I might deserve this."

"Maybe."

"At least let us escape first?"

"You've got ten minutes."

He hugged her quickly and grinned. "You're a sainted angel."

"Liar. Get out of here." But she hugged him back, smiling.

Izabelle wandered around the mansion until ten minutes had passed. As soon as the time was up, she quickly tracked down Amara and Tabitha before declaring in a loud voice, "Guess who's on a date?!"

* * *

><p>Adine had not laughed so much in ages. Forge was clever, self-effacing, and very funny. He had brought her to one of the last big fairs before the rainy fall season set in and it was an enjoyable jumble of people.<p>

But certain faces had caught her eye over and over again: while on the Ferris wheel, while throwing baseballs at targets, while among the food carts.

"Where might one find 'facilities' here?" she asked after seeing Feral's feline face behind a tent, watching.

"Down and to the right I think. I'll help you find them."

"You needn't bother!" Adine smiled easily but falsely. "I'll be back in no time."

As soon as she was outside of Forge's vision she darted into the dark and shadowy area behind the tents. The figures of Feral and Thornn melted out of the shadows and stood close to her.

"What do you think you are doing?" the older of the sisters hissed at her. "Have you forgotten us so easily? For a piece of the X-Men?"

"You're an idiot!" Adine snapped back. "What better way to convince them I mean no harm?"

"You should have brought us the mother by now!"

"And how long do you think we will have once we have the mother? Do you think we can defend ourselves, or even hide, for three months?" Adine shoved her face into the sharp, furred one. "The X-Men _will_ come for her and we must have only what we need and enough time to escape. We wait until she goes into labor and you had best be ready when she does."

She turned to leave but Thornn caught her by the arm. "And this man? He is nothing to you? For we will kill him if he follows us."

There was a momentary pause but Adine spoke clearly. "No. He's nothing."

* * *

><p>Izabelle's pregnancy went very easily, almost amazingly so up until the eight month. It was then that another close call occurred. Izabelle had been working in the Danger Room only hours before. Some of the lighting was coming loose and she had spotted Forge as he worked on tightening up the huge lights.<p>

"You have to promise me that you won't sneak in here and work on your own," she had insisted, much to his annoyance.

"I'm a mutant too, Izabelle," he had huffed. "I'm fine."

She had finally extorted a halfhearted promise from him before joining Hank for dinner. As the school year was in full swing once again, Izabelle had busied herself with grading while Hank read a report and massaged her swollen ankles.

She had fallen asleep easily, which was unusual with their rowdy baby, and so she was not aware of what was happening when the knock on their door woke her.

Hank climbed out of bed and a whispered conversation was held in the hallway. Something about the tone caught her attention and she pushed herself up on an elbow.

"Hank? What's wrong?"

He quickly rejoined her and smoothed her hair out of her face. "Nothing, darling. Just something that must be tended to right away. Don't worry yourself about it. Just go back to sleep."

With a bleary nod, Izabelle had fallen asleep quickly. But when she awoke an hour later with her baby kicking her in the spine, the first thing she noticed was that Hank was nowhere in their apartment. Something was definitely wrong.

Izabelle was out of bed quickly and wrapping herself in a bathrobe. She knew that Hank had to be in the labs and she hurried in that direction.

The first thing she noticed was the noise. Someone was screaming and she was amazed she had not heard it from her room. When she reached the lab she was greeted with a scene that made her stomach roll and clench.

Forge lay on an operating table, his leg soaked in blood. The screaming was coming from him and it was not hard to see why. His leg was mangled, clearly broken in several places, with chunks of skin missing as well. It looked as though his leg had been run over by a tank.

Though Hank was doing what he could to patch up Forge's leg, Forge's mutations were working against him. In an attempt to fix the leg, metal plates were slowly growing out from his knee and ankle. Hank would have to tear these away in order to continue working, earning a fresh wave of screaming and more blood. Scott and Jean were there was well as Adine and Logan, all running about and trying to stabilize the injured mutant. Angel was on a different bed, his arm connected to a blood bag.

"Forge?!" It was the first sound Izabelle had uttered since she had arrived, unnoticed in the chaos, and all eyes were on her instantly. She felt sick and pain was beginning to radiate through her midsection. She grabbed weakly at a counter and almost missed.

Hank paled as he watched her. He could not go to her as he was really the only person for this job. The leg had to be puzzle-pieced back together and set before they could give him Angel's blood and Hank had already been working at this for at least an hour. But she was in real danger if she went into labor too early.

"Someone get her out of here!" Hank roared, not taking his eyes from his wife's face.

The situation became infinitely worse if at all possible. Adine vaulted an operating table and quickly took Izabelle's arm, half dragging her from the room. Adine had been the one to find Forge and raise the alarm and now she was walking away with his wife.

"Logan! Follow them!"

Logan caught in Hank's tone what others would have easily missed: panic. The doctor did not often reveal his deeper fears, but for whatever reason he did not want this woman alone with his wife. Wolverine was out of the room immediately.

And just as quickly, Logan could see what Hank's concerns were based on. Adine was leading Izabelle, who was white and breathing heavily, toward the front door.

"Where are you taking her?"

As Adine looked at him, only for a moment, he could see a glint of anger and frustration flash across her face. But then it was gone.

"I was taking her outside. To get some fresh air."

"Allow me," Logan said gruffly, picking Izabelle up in him arms and carrying her out into the night.

Silently, Adine hoped that none of the Morlocks would be stupid enough to show themselves now that they could see Wolverine with her. She was relieved when after five minutes there was still no sign of the Morlocks.

Izabelle was whitish with worry and the beginnings of the now familiar pains. Both hands clutching at her stomach, her eyes again silently begged Logan for help.

"You can stop her pains, right?" Logan snapped at Adine. Again there was the hint of a glower and then her nod. "Well?"

With a soothing smile at Izabelle, Adine reluctantly put her hands on Izabelle's stomach. Slowly the pains died away though Izabelle could still feel that the muscles were contracted.

"I told him not to do it alone," she breathed, squeezing Logan's hand with her much smaller one. "I told him something could go wrong and he could get hurt."

"You know how it happened?" Logan asked, clearly surprised.

"It was the light rigging. Right?" She turned to Adine now, wide-eyed.

Adine nodded, and even she could not helped but cringe as she recounted what she had seen. "I was worried too, you know. He's careless sometimes and he wanted to wrap it up early. So when I couldn't find him I went looking. The light broke free. He landed on his leg and broke it before the light crashed down on top of it. Your husband was there immediately but…" She trailed off; Izabelle had seen what the problem was.

Izabelle swore under her breath and relaxed her grip on Logan's hand. Her muscles were slowly relaxing and she did not doubt for one moment that Hank would be able to fix Forge, whatever it took. He had helped her, after all.

Minutes passed as the trio breathed in the cool night air, each relaxing for the first time since the accident had swept them up.

"Is there anything we can do?" Izabelle asked, not really thinking there was.

"Other than keep you calm and away from the infirmary?" Logan's eyebrow quirked at her and she made a face at him in return. "Let's get you inside before you catch a cold or something like that."

"I think I'm going to go on a run. You two go ahead," Adine said, looking Izabelle straight in the eyes. She looked utterly miserable and it was then that Izabelle knew without a doubt that Adine had very real feelings for Forge.

"Suit yourself. Don't fall off the cliff," Logan shrugged and ushered Izabelle inside with all the grace and care of a full-grown gorilla.

After they had gone, Adine stood in the night, staring at the stars. Almost without her, her feet began to carry her swiftly through the trees. She needed to run or she would scream. Her white blonde hair whipped back from her face as she tried to push the truth from her mind.

The truth was she had caused Forge's fall. She had not meant to, Morlock or not, but her entrance had startled him as it was so late at night and he had grabbed the light for support. The rigging had been loose and corroded and had come away from the ceiling. Forge had dropped first, but the light soon followed. She remembered the crunch of his leg as it caught his weight and the crash of metal. His scream rang through her ears even as she ran.

Even though he had been badly hurt, when she had gone to him the first words from his lips were that it was not her fault. This was what she liked so very much about him: he always comforted and always looked after her. It was her fault though and she knew it. And when the pregnant mutant had arrived it had been the most terrible moment. She needed Izabelle to go into labor with her there, she needed to take her only when the baby was coming, but it had come at the very moment Forge needed her.

And she had made her choice.

It had been stopped before any action had been carried out, but she had chosen all the same and frustrated, conflicted emotions hit her in thundering waves. And so she ran, ignoring the branches that whipped at her face and the chill of the air.

* * *

><p>It was early in the morning before Hank made it back to their room, his claws blood crusted and his eyes red with stress and sleeplessness. He had <em>tried<em> to examine Izabelle once he saw her to make sure the baby was fine, but she had forced him into a bath where he promptly fell asleep. He had woken to her cleaning the last of his claws and trying to quietly re-heat the water in the bathtub.

He had dragged himself to bed, slept until about noon, and woken very embarrassed but reassured that his classes had been covered. After all, Hank had suffered last night as well, in a very different way but the stress had worn him down to a bundle of raw nerves. But Izabelle assured him that Adine had not done anything wrong and that Logan had been as helpful as he knew how to be.

Adine herself had shown up sometime in the afternoon with scratches and cuts all over her face and arms and no explanation other than she had been running. It was Adine who relayed the message to Izabelle that Forge wanted to see her. Hank followed them, wanting to keep a close eye on his wife and on his patient.

When Adine entered the room, it was clear how happy Forge was to see her.

"Why so dour, lovely? I didn't mean to scare you!"

Adine could not help but smile at a greeting like that but she said she would leave Izabelle and Forge to whatever it was they had to talk about.

"Come back though? It's lonely here." Even pale and injured, Forge managed a puppy face that won a promise of return from Adine. But she was anxious to leave; she could feel how closely Hank was watching her.

Izabelle turned a very motherly scowl on the mutant she had worked with the past few months, hands on her wide hips. "And what about me, huh?! You promised, you jerk! And you ran off and got yourself hurt and almost sent me into labor!"

"I thought you wanted to get that thing out of there?" he teased back. But his face did quickly take a serious expression. "I'm really sorry if that's true. I didn't mean to alarm everyone. It hasn't really been a picnic for me if that helps you feel better."

Hank laughed, his back turned to the pair, and Izabelle scowled at him. "Yes, Henry?"

"Only you could get someone to apologize for being seriously injured! You are the limit!"

Forge and Izabelle laughed as well, realizing it was more than a bit odd. But Forge had a reason for calling her down to see him.

"I need you to run the Danger Room, Izabelle. Obviously, I'm out of commission for a while and your dear hubby has enough to do with me on his hands now. Think you're up for it?"

"I'll have to test on Logan first but I think I can," Izabelle said doubtfully.

Forge grinned at her. "Oh, I'm sure he will just _love_ that."

The three of them laughed again at the thought.


	9. Chapter 9: Faces from the Past

**Chapter 9: Faces from the Past**

Logan looked up at the Control Room, waiting. Izabelle was being tested; Forge wanted her to run the Danger Room, but she had to prove that she was able to do so. So Logan was her guinea pig, "just in case."

"Alright, Logan. Here goes."

Claws slid out of his hands and there was a breathless moment before everything began. A grappling hook shot out of the wall and he ducked.

_Easy_, he thought.

The floor shifted and that did catch him off guard. This must have been something new that the pair of them added. Each tile of the floor began to shift and jump below him and Logan scurried around like a cat on hot bricks.

_Harder_, he thought as he finally gained footing on the far end of the room.

At that moment, he was knocked halfway across the room. Some sort of ramming device had shot out of the wall and bludgeoned him with great force. He stumbled to his feet and only barely dodged a spiked cannonball that shot past his shoulder. Still trying to catch his breath, Logan's eyes widened as he saw a grid of lasers sweeping toward him. For a moment, it crossed his mind that Izabelle had every reason to wish him dead and was very hormonal now that her due date was so close.

He looked for his opening and dove through where he would catch the least damage. Lasers caught his shoulders, burning through to the bone. Over the com system, there was a shrill "eeep!", apparently from Izabelle. Everything in the room hummed to a pause as Logan lay on the floor, focusing on healing and not swearing at the newbie.

"I'll just shut down…" Izabelle's voice was full of disappointment, but Logan had read the injury very differently.

"Like hell," he grumbled, pushing himself back to his feet. "I will _never_ have it said that I was beaten by some five foot three, pregnant mutant."

"Are you sure?" There was more amusement in her voice and Logan allowed a smile himself.

"Hit me!"

Izabelle was able to correct the mistakes she had made in timing remarkably quickly and Logan was better able to fight back. She had relied far too much on the automatic programming and this gave her a chance to feel out the balance between her own decisions and the computer's. It was not training with Forge in control, but Forge was a genius and Izabelle was only a few months trained in the Control Room. There were even a few times where she almost had him pinned, which surprised Logan quite a bit.

Eventually the system she had set up wound itself down and Logan stood, breathing heavily in the middle of the room.

"Well, darlin'," he called up to her, "I think we're even. I'll leave your fuzzy husband alone if you promise not to murder me."

"Sounds fair," came the reply. "But other than that beginning bit?"

He could almost hear her holding her breath in the silence.

"You did just fine."

"Fantastic!"

From that point on Izabelle was allowed to run Danger Room for the X-Men, and Hank ran it for the training groups. These times of running training for the X-Men allowed her to see Hank as she had only ever seen him a handful of times. He fought well and efficiently and she was again impressed with the idea that he had to be one of the most brilliant and powerful mutants living.

Of course Hank was ribbed mercilessly over all of this. Taunts that his wife would go easy on him, or conversely if a session was particularly difficult that he must have made her angry, became more common. However, a few bouts of Hank getting Izabelle to create a frozen lake to dump people into helped tone the teasing down a bit. Bobby would have died sooner than stop teasing his favorite couple, but he didn't mind the freezing water.

The X-Men had specifically requested situations where they may be overwhelmed by foes, as they had been with the Morlocks, These always made Izabelle nervous, but she wanted to be involved and she knew the moment there was any anxiety on her end Hank would have her pulled from the Danger Room entirely. But there was something very panic inducing about watching her husband being buried under swarming bodies.

Another development was the odd coincident of Izabelle only ever making mistakes involving Logan. This of course led to a running joke about how she was out to get him. Logan was as good-natured about it as he was capable of being, but he did try to stay on her good side more often.

* * *

><p>It was after one training session that she was approached by her husband and Professor Xavier. Izabelle immediately assumed that they were there to "fire" her and she launched into an explanation about how she really wasn't out to get Logan.<p>

But Xavier cut her off. "My dear, Logan can handle it and probably deserves it. No. We are here to talk to you about something entirely different."

Izabelle's hand automatically went to her now huge belly and Hank shook his head.

"You've been doing very well. But I have a … surprise for you."

"That sounds rather ominous, Henry. What have you done?"

"Follow me."

Winding through the basement level, she was led to a room that she knew contained one-way glass. She began to question why she was there when the words caught in her throat.

Her parents were in the other room. Her parents… She had not seen them in what had to be upward of ten years. And there they were.

Hank moved quickly as Izabelle half sat and half fainted. He gently helped her to a chair and handed her some water. No one spoke as both men watched Izabelle.

"How…?" she finally managed.

"Please forgive me, Izabelle, but I felt I had to."

Her eyes focused on Hank more closely. "You found them?"

"I did. After that conversation at the duck pond a few months back." He took her hands in his. "You see, other women can go to mothers or friends or… someone else who has gone through this. But you were alone and it tore at my heart. And there was a strong chance they would remember you. After all, your powers were undependable at the time; you said so yourself. So I began to look."

"Do they…remember…?"

"They do. They began to remember when your journalism got some attention, but you disappeared again. But I would rather allow them the chance to speak for themselves, Izabelle. That is… if you will see them."

"But why would they want to see me?"

"You're their daughter," Xavier soothed.

"But…" Izabelle had no words for what she wanted to say so she slid her maternity shirt up over her stomach. The scars everyone knew were there but no one ever mentioned stood out garishly against her stomach and back. She was so very different now, almost as if from a different life.

"But they've changed too. They will understand," Xavier murmured, reading her thoughts.

Izabelle walked to the window without answering. Her parents were sitting on a couch that had been brought into the room. Her father stared at the door, not moving and hardly blinking. Her mother on the other hand sat and then jumped up and paced and then sat again.

Looking at Izabelle in the context of her parents, Hank was able to see the clear line between all of them. Izabelle was indeed built more like her father, though not nearly as unflatteringly as she had described. Her mother was very thin and a good three inches taller than her father, but Izabelle's hazel eyes and curly hair was clearly from her mother.

Hank noticed Izabelle was crying and embraced her tightly. "I'm sorry. I will tell them to go. Maybe another time –"

But she cut him off. "It's not that." She placed his hand on her stomach and he could feel energetic kicking against his palm.

"My dear," Xavier said with a smile, "I do believe your parents are awaiting your arrival. Why keep them waiting?"

She nodded, brushing away her tears and motioned for both of them to stay behind. She entered the adjoining room before she could reconsider.

Everyone held their breath.

Izabelle's father was the first to react. He stood slowly, as if he could not believe what he saw. He reached out slowly and took Izabelle's hands in his own, at which point Izabelle began to cry.

"It's you," her father breathed.

She nodded vigorously and the two grabbed each other in a tight hug.

"Oh God. My baby…"

Izabelle felt a hand on her back and turned into her mother's arms.

When everyone had more or less collected themselves, Izabelle's mother led her to the couch, her parents sitting on either side of her.

"I don't even know where to start," her mother said, smoothing back her daughter's hair.

"Well, start with when we remembered, Carol. That's as good as any," said her father.

Her mother, Carol, nodded and the three sat back against the couch. "It was when you came out against that journalist so loudly. The one who dumped her fiancé."

"Trish Tilby."

"Yes, that one. Well, your last name was obviously the same as ours and even though we had forgotten you, there were still plenty of reasons to believe that somewhere out there we had a grown child."

"There was a picture of you next to the article, and it seemed so familiar. But then you vanished," her father interrupted.

"Are you explaining or am I, Ron?"

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"So it was a few years obviously but we would both scan the papers to see if this person came back. And when you did this time it was national news. Married to a mutant genius who had been abducted! And all in blue fur!"

It was too much for her father and he cut in. "We couldn't believe it! All the time we could remember – because we could actually remember you around this point – you swore you'd never marry and here you were married to a hulking, important mutant!"

Her mother sighed. "He's not 'hulking,' Ron. He's very nice."

"You've met him?" Izabelle interrupted.

Her mother nodded quickly. "_He_ found _us_. See, then there was the splash when the papers found out you were pregnant."

Izabelle remembered that clearly. They had been somewhat mobbed when Izabelle had first gone out with an obvious baby bump. The child of a normal appearing mutant parent and a mutant parent with blue fur was obviously fantastic gossip column fodder.

"We actually cut it out of the paper. We were convinced you were our missing child, but we could not think of how to find you or make contact. And if we were wrong…"

Carol broke off and went back to smoothing her daughter's hair, trying not to cry. Her father jumped in where her mother had left off.

"So we were at home about three months ago and waiting to see if more news appeared about you or your baby, and someone showed up at the house. Now, he had his image thing on so you couldn't tell it was the same man, but it was your husband. He explained he had found us using your DNA after you had some medical issues. He showed us what he looked like and your mother fainted dead away!"

"Don't dramatize, Ron!"

"Well, she did. But he promised to help us meet up with you again and he gave us pictures of you and the baby. Made us promise not to tell you what gender the baby is though."

"He _told _you?!" Izabelle exclaimed. "Henry!"

Hank poked his head around the door, grinning sheepishly. "What better way to get your parents to trust me than to lure them with details about their grandbaby?"

He pulled up a chair across from the family and Carol took Izabelle's hand.

"Why would you do that, Izabelle? Why?"

Izabelle buried her head in her mother's shoulder, allowing herself to cry. Hank had been right. Just the idea that there would be someone else to help carry the weight of the pregnancy and birth was enough to make her dizzy with relief.

"I thought you would resent me," she finally managed. "I had no control over my powers and I couldn't bear to deal with the confusion and with being forgotten. I thought it would be easier to detach and to live alone."

"What changed?"

Izabelle locked eyes with her husband's bright blue ones. "Henry… He changed everything."

Hank blushed for what was maybe the fifth time since she had known him and Izabelle smiled at him.

"If we would like somewhere more comfortable to talk, perhaps we should move upstairs?" Hank suggested.

"And then you can fill us in on everything. Starting, perhaps, with Henry?" teased her father, taking her hand and helping her to her feet.

* * *

><p><em>The urge to pick this back up hit me yesterday and I wrote this in one day! When the muses are good, they are very good indeed!<em>

_Please review! I miss feedback!_


	10. Chapter 10: Fire and Flood

**Chapter 10: Fire and Flood**

It had been a huge blessing having Izabelle's family living so much closer to her. They had packed up everything and moved to the nearest city once they realized how attached Izabelle was to the school. There had been mixed reactions to this, ranging from happiness to jealousy to suspicion. Understandably, some mutants like Sam were very happy for her, having a large family himself and many of which were now at the school. But others like Rouge and Scott were rather sensitive about family issues.

Rouge had never gone out of her way to see Izabelle before, as they really didn't have much in common outside of Beast, but now Rouge was giving her a very definite cold shoulder. If Izaebelle appeared she would leave the room without hesitation regardless of what was going on. Bobby had noticed Izabelle's hurt expression after this had gone on for about two weeks.

"It's not really about you, Izabelle," he comforted under his breath. They were at dinner and Rouge's empty spot was obvious at the full table.

"I don't care if it is or not. I just wish she didn't do it in such a blatant manner."

"Yeah, well that's Rouge. But don't hold it against her. The chances of her having a child are small to none, and as for her family…well…" Both their eyes darted to Kurt, who was flirting outrageously further down the table.

"Not so bad on the one hand but on the other…" Bobby murmured.

Izabelle nodded feeling mildly better. "There's still Scott," she breathed to Bobby.

He laughed loudly and tried to cover it with coughing. Izabelle glowered at him while pounding him on the back in a manner that was much closer to punching.

"Oh what I would not have given to have been there. Your mouth… someday you're going to lose a limb." He sighed happily and drank more water.

Scott had been antagonistic every time her parents visited, insinuating there should be more rigorous screening for guests. This last time when Izabelle had tried to explain her father was a civil engineer and her mother was a secretary and neither were a threat to the school, Scott had asked her how she knew. That had been the last straw and she may or may not have yelled that she knew because she could read f %&ing memories. Unlike Logan, Scott was not going to have it out with her in front of others and had simply left the room, glowing red and obviously furious.

Bobby regained the ability to speak and spoke louder since Scott had already left the table. "He's clearly out of line and there's no way Jean's not giving him an earful in that direction. My parents parted ways with me years ago and you don't see me being an irrational fathead. But you've got to be more careful; sometimes you're too fiery for your own good. Hey!" His face lit up. "Maybe _that's_ a mutation as well!"

"Oh go to–"

A blue paw covered half of her face muffling the end of her sentence.

"I swear, you will be a worse influence on the baby than Logan, my darling," Hank teased, taking the seat beside her. "Heard about Scott."

"Isn't she a gem?" Bobby grinned over at Hank.

"Oh yes," Hank replied with a wry glint in his eye. "A real sweetheart. So sweet she could just rot your teeth."

Izabelle resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him and kept quiet.

But things calmed down as fall took hold and the very real possibility of birth came to the very front of Izabelle and Hank's minds. There had been no false contractions of any kind, as if the baby had enough excitement and was just waiting for the right moment.

* * *

><p>The next afternoon found Izabelle lying in a pile of raked leaves. She had been helping Hank with grading since he was much busier than usual; he was trying to work well ahead for when the baby came. After they had finished, Izabelle had wandered outside to wait for her mother, who was picking her up in half an hour, and she had mandated that Hank do something restful. Bobby had swung by and invited him for some football, and every so often she could hear cheers from the other side of the school.<p>

She felt mildly guilty for not giving back to him as much as she felt he gave to her and so she was trying very hard to amend this. She knew he needed to lean on her more than he was willing to say sometimes, and being pregnant was no excuse for ignoring his needs.

As she watching the puffy clouds float by and letting her mind wander when she saw Anesthesia approaching her from the cliff side of the school. Anesthesia and Forge had spent increasing amounts of time together and she had even taken on a large role in his physical rehabilitation.

Hank was not thrilled with seeing the secretive mutant so often but he did realize if she was in sight of someone then she wasn't busy abducting his wife. He did not care what anyone said, his fur rippled every time she was near and every time he saw her glance at Izabelle's belly. Something was going on, and he was willing to kill to protect his family.

Anesthesia knew full well he had guessed her intent but the Professor was impressed with her adaptation to the school and was inclined to give people the benefit of a doubt. So she lay low, played nice around Beast, and went out of her way to avoid Izabelle. She needed everything to go smoothly when the time came. But this also required her being alone with Izabelle, and for that she needed Izabelle's trust.

"Hey, Adine," Izabelle greeted the angular woman as she sat on the grass beside her. "What brings you out here?"

"Going for a run along the cliff. Forge should be able to join soon."

"You've been really great for him, you know that?"

Anesthesia blushed in spite of herself and hid her face behind her bangs.

"It's no sin you know. He's lovely and very eligible."

"Not all of us are in a position to just run off with someone we care about though." Anesthesia knew it was a risk to dance so close to the truth in saying this but her reasoning was two-fold: another woman would sense the truth in her words and Adine needed desperately to at least tell some half truth to someone. She adored Forge, more than she would ever admit to anyone including the mechanical genius himself, and it made her stomach roll to think of what future events would do to their "relationship."

Izabelle could see her thoughts had turned inward so she tried to draw Adine back out. "What could possibly be keeping you back?"

"The past is always present for some of us."

Izabelle nodded and didn't press her. There were a lot of different kinds of hurt here and some you just didn't poke at. "Well, I'm glad he has you. And he's glad too, for what it's worth."

Adine gave a rare smile and crouched in the grass beside Izabelle. "The baby's well?"

"Hank is very optimistic. It has been harder than we expected but it looks like we will be okay."

"That's good news."

Izabelle was surprised at how sincere Adine sounded when she said this. It was more emotion than she expected from someone she half knew.

"What is it then that is the matter? You were radiating worry so I headed over here," Adine continued.

"Radiating?"

"I have a very slight ability to feel emotions. At least as far as they are connected to your senses."

Izabelle sighed and decided to just tell someone. "I'm afraid my baby will be a girl and that I'll be a terrible mother. I feel selfish and horrible."

"You want a boy?"

"Yes. I just feel I would be a better mother to a boy. And girls are so…"

"Girly."

Their eyes met and they both smiled. Adine was not particularly feminine and seemed to understand perfectly.

"But it's my child. How horrible is it to think this way? And I should feel like, oh I will love it no matter what, shouldn't I?"

"It seems to me you are looking at this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you are worried that you would not be the best possible parent you could be. There are many people in this world who do not worry they do not love enough. It would seem if you are this concerned with making sure you love your child as much as you can the chances of you being a terrible parent are much smaller."

Izabelle rolled the words around in her mind as the other woman stood, brushing off her knees.

"Well, I could tell you what the baby is, but I think that's better saved for your husband. You'll be fine. I need a shower. See you 'round." And as Adine jogged away, Izabelle felt a sense of peace that had not been imparted by Anesthesia's touch, as it had before, but by her words.

She heaved herself out of the leaves and waved to her mother's car as it stopped halfway up the long drive. Izabelle's mother, Carol, had talked Izabelle into wandering through stores looking at baby things under the restriction that they would not buy anything. Carol had gone a bit crazy with buying baby things and Izabelle had insisted she stop.

"You seem fairly calm," Carol said, as Izabelle dropped into the passenger seat.

"Well, all things considered…" Izabelle remarked absently.

"What does that mean?"

Izabelle started a little and smiled. "Sorry. I forget you aren't a mutant."

Her mother smiled and it was only very slightly strained. "Yes, I never thought I would feel as though _I _were the odd one in all of this. You understand what I mean of course."

Izabelle did and she explained her statement: "I just never expected to be with anyone. I mean, I left you guys and my long-term relationships ended there. How could I marry or raise children?"

Her mother only nodded. Sometimes there was nothing to say.

"So I don't have any expectations. We can't even know if this pregnancy will go like all others. But I'm feeling hopeful today."

Her mother smiled at her and took her hand. "And that's certainly something."

* * *

><p>"You're being a spoilsport."<p>

"My kankles are hurting and I feel sick and I'm tired of carrying this baby," Izabelle sighed.

Hank wrapped his arms around his wife, cradling her belly in his hands. He began to very gently massage her stomach and she let out a little sigh of relief. He was strong enough he could actually lift the weight of the baby in his own hands which felt like heaven.

"How about now?"

"I'm just not up for anything today. I feel listless and unhealthy."

"Then just for a walk about the grounds. It's not healthy for you to stay in either and you know you won't feel better if you just watch YouTube clips for hours on end and then go to bed, Izabelle." Hank was getting a bit desperate. There was somewhere they needed to be and he was willing to lay on some guilt to get her to cooperate.

Izabelle sighed and wrapped her hair in a bun at the base of her neck. It was getting too long but she had no desire to cut it herself and Amara was visiting family until tomorrow. But Hank was right; she would get sucked into doing something stupid and then would feel empty and angry.

"All right," she agreed, reluctantly.

"Excellent!" Hank beamed at her.

But Izabelle was surprised when he caught her at the door.

"Wouldn't you like to wear this lovely top you just bought?"

Izabelle's eyes narrowed as she took the cowl necked shirt from him. "What are you up to, Henry Phillip?"

"Only wishing you to feel as beautiful as you are."

In case Izabelle had any doubts that something was afoot, the loud sounds of children being shushed followed by heavy silence as they headed toward the front room erased all doubt from her mind. They rounded the corner to be bombarded by people yelling "surprise!"

A sign hung from the bay windows that read, "It's a ….!" and green and yellow balloons hung in clusters around the room.

Amara rushed to Izabelle, who was stunned to see her friend back already, and hugged her. "I hope you'll forgive me but Kitty and I decided to just do it anyway! You're the first mother in our groups and we must celebrate!"

Izabelle found her parents easily and gave her mother a wry look. "Baby shopping but no buying? I can't imagine why you agreed," she teased her mother.

"I was surprised you didn't guess based on that alone!" her father teased back at her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Izabelle caught white hair contrasting with much darker hair. Forge had his arms wrapped around Adine and her head rested on his shoulder. They remained like that for only a moment but it made Izabelle very happy to see it. Forge had been oversleeping on occasion over the past few weeks and she had guessed why, though this was the first real confirmation she had gotten.

Forge noticed her gaze and blushed, though he recovered quickly. "Cut the cake! We're dying to know!"

Izabelle fixed a questioning gaze on Amara who grinned.

"Hank told us the gender. Cut a slice and find out!"

Izabelle moved to the table in the center of the room and picked up the cake server. Her hand shook slightly. She stared at the white cake without moving.

"Or are you chicken, darling?"

Izabelle's eyes met Logan's and he grinned at her. A smile flashed across her features and she made two swift cuts in the cake. Without hesitation she pulled the slice away and was greeted with a deep blue piece of cake. Her hands flew to her face and she could not stop smiling. The baby was a boy.

Congratulations rang out on all sides and in the mêlée Izabelle saw Adine flash her a thumbs up and a huge smile.

* * *

><p>The due date crept closer and the weather turned rainy suddenly. It would begin with a frost in the morning and then rain through the day and into the evening. It was nice to have the promise of a healthy baby boy in the gloom of the weather.<p>

Izabelle was watching the news when Sam and Roberto poked their heads into her room. She was still trying to find places for all of the shower gifts and welcomed them in on the condition that they carry some of the heavier stuff for her.

"_Unseasonably heavy rains have weakened the structural integrity of some of the older sewer systems. While the danger of flooding is always present in the city, residents are asked to be especially careful and to be attentive to any signs of crumbling or weakening. If any deficiencies are noticed please call–"_

"You'd never guess we'd get all this rain," Sam exclaimed as Izabelle muted the television. "Normally we're buried in snow by now."

"I'll take this over the snow. The jet can still get out in pouring rain."

"Structural danger in the city though. Wonder how that'll affect our renegades under the city?"

"Ugh," Izabelle rubbed her stomach. "Don't remind me. But you know… there really hasn't been much activity in that quarter."

"They must be busy," Sam motioned toward the television, which now showed a collapsed sewer, with the road caved in over it.

"Can't help but feel bad for them," Izabelle mused.

"I can!" Roberto exclaimed.

"That's because you have no soul!" Izabelle teased. "Any news on the surgery? I don't want to bother him…"

One of the younger mutants had been complaining of pains, which turned out to be appendicitis so Hank was dealing with it in-house.

"Should be over by now. You know how easy that is now. Name picked out yet?"

"Yes! You want to be the first to know?"

"Sure!" Roberto grinned.

"Too bad!" Izabelle laughed.

Roberto threw a baby toy at her and laughed as well. "You evil little witch!"

"That's no way to talk to my wife," a voice rumbled from behind Sunspot and he felt himself lifted off of his feet.

"Of course not, Beast. If only she didn't earn it quite so often."

Hank smiled and put Roberto back down. "One less appendix in this mansion; showed it to him so that made him pretty happy and Jean's checking on him in a few hours."

"Great news," Izabelle said and hugged him. "Don't forget I'm on shopping duty tomorrow."

"That's why we came!" Sam exclaimed. "It went straight out of mah head! Sorry. Some of the people are being jumbled around so Hank you'll be Saturday but I know that's her due date so if it happens then, obviously you're off."

"How kind of Logan to let me off for the birth of my first child."

"Don't you ferget it either, bub," a voice called down the hall, sending the room into peals of laughter.

* * *

><p>Deep below the city, Adine slipped and gashed her palm on the rough stones as she caught herself. She had left in the afternoon when she would be least noticed and had made her way to the city. The sewers were more treacherous than they had been in a long time. The rain had the walkways as slippery as glass and the waters roared by. But as she drew closer to the Morlocks' location the water began to dry up.<p>

Berzerker jogged up to her and she snarled at him. "What the hell is this? Where's the water?"

"We've dammed it further up. It was becoming dangerous."

"And damming it makes it safer, how? If that thing blows, we're all dead!"

"But once we have her then we can use it to flood the entire area. We've found another location."

They made their way through the Morlock dwellings. Horribly disfigured mutants called out to Anesthesia as she followed Berzerker, some running up with requests and some receiving small parcels from the bag Anesthesia carried with her. Things were worse than when she had left for the mansion several months ago. Many were sicker than ever with the filthy conditions they were forced to live in and it had become harder to go topside for food; the violence towards those who ventured above had gotten worse. Anesthesia involuntarily felt the memory of fire that had once eaten away at her body and her vision went red for a moment. And they wondered why they found their guards in pieces!

This was good though. She needed this. She and Forge had begun a physical relationship, against her better judgment, and she had felt it weakening her resolve. _This_ was why she was even at the school: for these mutants who needed her and needed something much more powerful that only she could bring them.

She inhaled deeply, imagining that she was absorbing the fury and power she needed for the next few days. Berzerker watched her carefully as they walked. There had been concerns that she would back out and leave them when they needed help more than anything. But this was the mutant he remembered and he knew she would come through.

They reached the dam and she looked it over as he explained the structure.

"So we have about two days before we need to either adjust the structure before it gives way."

"That is very clever. Two days will be plenty of time."

"You mean…"

"Yes. Come."

They made their way more quickly back to the central room. Deftly, she lept onto the dais and the rejected mutants crowded around to hear what she would tell them.

"Morlocks!"

Howls and shrieks went up in return and if anyone had been present to hear them it would have made their blood chill.

"She is carrying a boy and will deliver at any moment. We must act before she delivers at the mansion or all our work will have been in vain! He is all we have hoped for and he will belong to us! Tomorrow, we strike!"

* * *

><p><em>It's back! Hooray! It would be a very long and involved explanation but needless to say I hope you all keep reading and let me know what you think! Finishing this story is definitely a priority so it should be done within the month.<em>


	11. Chapter 11: Abduction

**Chapter 11: Abduction**

Hank knocked on the door in front of him and waited impatiently. As a man who usually stood completely still unless he had an action to perform, anyone watching him would have found it odd that he kept curling and uncurling his hands.

"Enter!" Sam's voice called from within and Hank opened the door.

"Have you seen Izabelle?" he asked bluntly.

"She's not here, if…" Sam stopped typing and looked up at Hank questioningly.

"No. No, sorry," Hank backpedaled, realizing what it sounded like. "I know you were on the shopping detail as well and was wondering if you had seen her return with you."

Sam's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward slightly. It was clear he was trying to remember something.

"I…thought I did…but…she didn't… I must be wrong. She rode up front with Logan. She's here somewhere. Haven't you seen her?"

"No," Hank half growled.

"But it's nearly eight."

"Yes."

Hank's stomach was beginning to ache. He hadn't been worried until he realized that the shopping detail had been back for several hours and there was no sign of Izabelle. It was unlike her to go this long without at least showing her face and so he had gone looking for her.

"She might be outside. I'll do a fly over. Where can I find you?"

"Wherever Logan is," Hank snarled before exiting the room.

Sam shot out of the open window, hoping he could find her before anything drastic happened.

In the hallway, Beast collided with Forge and Hank was surprised to see the easy-going mutant in a state of alarm. "What's troubling you, Forge?"

"Adine. I can't find her anywhere and she should have been back from shopping hours ago!"

"She's missing too…" The words came out as a pronouncement of doom.

Hank had been trying to ignore this possibility and facing it now was like staring down a bullet train. He had always gone to great lengths to make sure that Izabelle and Adine never left the mansion together. But Sam had told him that the people had been shifted around. Fool! He should have asked right then what that meant; Sam had no reason to think anything of Adine's presence on that trip. The past hour he had been telling himself that this could not be, that Adine was screwing Forge somewhere and had nothing to do with this. He now knew for certain that this was not true and in his mind this left only one explanation.

All these realizations weighed on Hank so heavily that he had to lean on the wall for support.

Adine had taken Izabelle, and right before her due date.

"Hank! Are you okay? You're white as a sheet!" Forge exclaimed..

"She's gone. My wife is gone. And my baby…" Hank moaned.

"What?! How?!" Forge's alarmed cries brought curious heads out of their rooms and Hank's distress drew them out into the hall.

"Dr. McCoy! What is it?"

"Sir? You look awful!"

"Clear off!" Forge ordered, pushing students away. "Hank, who took her?"

"Anesthesia."

"No, Hank. No, that can't be. She's not like that."

"And where is she? I had expressly made sure they would never leave the mansion together and the first time they did will now be the last." Hank's mind raced. Why hadn't Logan noticed? He didn't trust Adine either. How could he just _allow_ someone to walk off with Izabelle, with a pregnant woman? That filthy, self-concerned _animal_!

"Maybe Adine was taken as well. She could simply be a victim–."

"That _creature_ has not been a victim in a _very_ long time. I could guarantee _that_!"

Hank had regained his color, and now Forge looked sick. Hank was right. Nothing about Adine gave the impression she would be a helpless victim; she had laid out much bigger mutants with crippling pain and visions in the Danger Room. Forge knew more than most about her, about her scars. He knew if someone had tried to take Adine, a body would have been found, whether hers or her attacker's.

Beast marched deliberately down the hall away from Forge. Students who had still only half figured out what was going on trailed behind him.

"Where are you going, Dr. McCoy?" a boy at his elbow asked.

"Someone is responsible for this and he will answer for it."

With that, Beast tore away down the halls, barreling after the scent of Wolverine. Wood cracked as he rocketed down corridors and people dove out of his way.

Wolverine was not expecting the attack though he heard Hank coming a mile away. He figured something was wrong outside and was waiting for Hank to explain what they needed to do. Instead he had to dodge hundreds of pounds of enraged muscle and razor sharp claws. Beast was fighting for blood.

"Where the HELL is my WIFE?" Beast roared, the veins standing out in his neck. The sound seemed to eat up every inch of air and the chandelier shook in the reverberations.

Half the school was now crowded into the entry of the mansion where Logan and Hank circled one another. Whispers spread like ripples that Izabelle was gone and no one knew where she was.

"She came back with us. She sat in the back with Sam. If you don't back down, you'll sorely regret it."

"Sam says she was with YOU!" The roar was so loud children covered their ears and a few screamed.

"Well, she wasn't! What do you want me to say?"

That was certainly the wrong response. In record time, Beast had pinned Wolverine and held Wolverine's throat in his large hand.

"I want you to say," he growled, his voice even more menacing when it was low, "that you found it prudent to take care of the one person I love above all others and that you, in your flippancy, did not lead to her disappearance. I want you to tell me _that_, Logan."

And then he began to squeeze.

Jean burst into the room and after a good half a minute was finally able to pry Beast loose from Logan, though it took her full concentration to do so. Logan rolled onto his stomach, his face nearly purple, and coughed until his throat was raw. Students shrieked and shied away from him, most now wishing they had stayed away.

"He would have killed me," Logan rasped, blades shooting from his knuckles. "You blue lunatic!"

Students gasped and the room froze. Everyone but Jean, Hank, and Logan stood as still as statues. The three of them had seen this before and were not surprised when Xavier appeared in their midst.

"That is _quite_ enough from _both_ of you," he scolded furiously. "You will follow me without further incident or I will _force you to_!"

Wolverine was made to walk before the professor, with Hank behind and Jean following him. They moved in this parade style until they reached the hall outside of Cerebro and only then did the school above unfreeze. Jean shot a message off to Scott about where they were and telling him to keep the children in their rooms. Hank was very different than he had been even minutes before; he looked deflated and was trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Logan tried to glower, but the sight was too painful to keep it up.

"I would never do anything to harm your wife," Logan explained, his voice still raw. "I've tried to keep an extra eye on her since Forge broke his leg. She yelled at me last week for stalking her in the store. I swear I saw her get in the van with Sam. I checked twice."

Hank nodded and covered his face with a large hand. Jean hugged his thick arm silently, stroking the thick blue fur comfortingly.

"Logan," Xavier broke in. "I would like to see those memories."

Logan nodded and the two remained motionless for some time. When they broke apart, Xavier looked very troubled.

"Those memories have been…tampered with somehow. But tampering is not the best word for it. The memory is genuine but what he is seeing is not. Someone altered what he was seeing as he saw it."

"And we know who that is," Jean said, trying to keep the defeat out of her voice.

Hank had pulled himself together and did not trust himself to respond to any of this. Jean conducted the conversation for him.

"We can find her though? Through Cerebro?"

"I certainly aim to try. If you could excuse me for a moment…"

The three of them waited in the hallway in silence. Hank now had sweeping guilt to go along with his anxiety and crushing misery.

"Logan, I –"

"No more, Hank. I'd have done the same were our roles reversed. You owe me no apology."

"A comforting thought, Logan," Jean sighed despairingly, but the sentiment did make Hank feel better.

The doors opened and the three of them rushed in.

"Cerebro has found her but she is moving rapidly and one of them is blocking all electronic signals around then as they move. I can't pin a location on her and we will not be able to use com devices if we do find them. I think it would be best to begin where she was taken and then try to go from there. Hank and Logan may be able to sniff her out."

"Oh please let me come!" They jumped and spun to face Cannonball; they had not realized Sam was there. "Ah'll die! I thought she was there and it's mah fault!"

"No," Hank said, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder. "We know whose fault this is. We will find her, and she will pay. Come."

He started down the hall, all fury and determination, and the rest followed in his wake like planets orbiting a powerful sun.

Silently, Jean started a conversation with the professor. "Someone should warn Forge. Are we sure it was her?"

"She is with Izabelle. There can be no doubt. I will talk to him myself."

* * *

><p>The Blackbird landed in the abandoned parking lot and X-Men poured out of it, scattering in all directions. It was now nearly ten at night. Wolverine and Hank headed to exactly where the shopping group had parked, hoping for some scent or message. The rain starting down on them made it much harder to track by scent.<p>

Closing his eyes, Hank focused on the scent of his wife. There was a whiff of it and he followed. Logan was trying for Anesthesia and went off in a different direction. Hank followed the trail into the store, through the back, and then it died. However, somewhere along the back of the building there was a manhole and he picked up her scent there. Logan joined him there after tracing back and forth from the same parking spot, back to where the van had been, and finally to the manhole. There the scents converged and were washed away by the smell of the sewer and the rain.

Kurt, Sam, and Scott had already disappeared down the tunnels and were back in a few minutes.

"It's a labyrinth," Kurt sighed in frustration. "It could take days to search and they can simply keep moving around. We need something to bring them to a halt if we want to find her."

"Jean?" Logan asked the telepath.

She shook her head. "They're in the city by now. I can't put a clear lock on them from this far away."

"Then we go forward!" Hank snarled.

"Not you, Hank," Storm begged. "You're about to collapse. You need to go back and rest."

"And what of my wife? Is she resting? How can I lie in _our bed_ without her?"

"She's right," Jean broke in. "We want you there when we find her but you have to recover."

Hank was finally talked into driving back with Storm. The fact that he couldn't seem to pin his thoughts on anything and that his vision was swimming in and out of focus convinced him more than the words of his friends though. Izabelle had always told him he didn't take care of himself and he could not help her like this. When they arrived at the mansion, he headed straight to his labs and collapsed on one of the beds there. He was asleep in seconds, despair sucking him into inky darkness.

* * *

><p><em>9 hours earlier<em>

Izabelle looked through the breakfast aisle for mini-muffins, her mind wandering. She wanted bagels and wondered if she could just buy them and tell Logan to stuff it. He was driving her insane in more ways than usual. First he would pop up every time she turned a corner and then he was being an absolute stickler about buying only what was on the grocery list. Granted the impulse buys had gotten a bit out of hand, but this was not the solution.

"Izabelle!"

Anesthesia waved to her from the end of the aisle and Izabelle grabbed the mini-muffins before hurrying over.

"Everyone's outside! What _have_ you been doing?"

Izabelle cursed under her breath. She had been spacing out and now everyone was waiting on her. "Sorry! Help me out will you?"

"You get the cat food?"

"No. I'm breakfast."

"Ah. Kitty forgot it. We'll just run back there."

Izabelle followed as Adine took the cart from her and they hurried to the very back of the store. The cat food was for Lockheed. But then why would Kitty forget it? The dragon hardly ever left her sight.

"Here we are…" Adine smiled at her. "Move that box and I'll throw it in."

As Izabelle reached for the box Adine's hand brushed hers and then… blackness. It was as though she had gone blind. A hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her scream and she could feel herself begin dragged by powerful arms into the storage half of the store. She could only hear what was going on around her and she stumbled about, banging her shins on everything.

"Keep her here until I say otherwise. I have to get back out there and make sure they see her getting into that van."

"Got it. She'll see us though after you leave."

"And so what if she does? All the better for you."

The menace in those words made Izabelle break into a cold sweat and she obeyed as rough hands gagged and bound her. Today her powers were very weak and they could not help her in this situation anyway.

Anesthesia hurried off with the cart, getting into line with Logan.

"Where have _you_ been?"

"Cat food. Told Kitty I'd grab it for her."

"Because we all like to have our muffins rubbin' up against the cat food. Thanks."

He turned back to unloading his cart and Adine took the opportunity to unload her cart as well, brushing her arm against his.

"Hey, Logan! Need me for anything?"

Logan looked up and saw Izabelle. For a half of a second something registered as odd but was suppressed. "Need you to not pop on me. Go get in the van."

She smiled at him and left.

Adine held back a smile. Now she needed that gullible Southerner.

Sam was loading groceries into the van and she simply touched him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"You seen Kitty?"

Sam peered into the van and noticed that Izabelle was climbing into the passenger seat in her ungainly way. He smiled a little and then caught Kitty's eye.

"Yeah. She's in there already."

Adine nodded and Sam saw her climb into the van as well. The real Anesthesia walked silently to a car parked a little way from the van. Picking the lock easily she slipped into the car and waited for Logan. She would have a hold on him in close proximity for about half an hour so she needed him to show up soon. But Logan was like clockwork and he was there in plenty of time. He climbed in, looked around for Izabelle, saw Izabelle in the back and Adine further up, and drove away.

Adine quickly jogged around to the loading area for trucks. Scaleface, a woman who became an enormous reptile, roughly carried Izabelle out of the store. Izabelle's vision had indeed returned to her and the mutants that surrounded her were terrifying.

"Any trouble?"

"One dead but that's his bad luck. The sneak threatened us."

"Smooth, Feral. No one will ever know we were here!" Anesthesia scolded angrily.

"Who cares? We've got what we wanted," the feline woman gestured to Izabelle.

For the first time since her abduction, Adine looked at Izabelle. The sharp features were cold and ruthless and Izabelle had no trouble believing that Adine had indeed orchestrated all of the killings that had troubled the city for so long. Adine could feel her lip curl as she looked at the frightened woman.

"How you ever hooked a mutant like Beast I'll never know," she scoffed at Izabelle. "We move down!"

Izabelle felt herself shoved along and she went willingly, out of fear of stumbling and falling. They reached a manhole though and she froze. There was no way that she could climb down that tiny ladder when she was this pregnant.

"No fear, dear," Anesthesia said coldly. She gestured to Scaleface who lifted Izabelle easily and carried her down under one arm.

Below was worse than above. In the dark Izabelle could feel a horde of mutants. Adine joined them and they began to jog. Izabelle had tried to stay somewhat fit during her pregnancy but her hands were bound, she was panicking, and the walkways were treacherously slippery. It was not long before she was again picked up and carried. After what seemed like an endless black hole of time, the mutant horde stopped in an adjoining room of the sewers. Izabelle's hands were unbound, she was made to sit, and she stared at Anesthesia as she rubbed her chaffed wrists.

"Why?"

It was the only thing Izabelle could think to say. She knew how and who and she knew now Hank had always been right about this woman. But she could not think of why this was happening.

Adine looked at her closely before calling out into the darkness. "Berzerker! Some light!"

In the dark next to her an explosion rang out and a mutant held a ball of fluctuating electricity. Her focus shifted to the mutants around her and she realized very quickly that each was as disfigured as the ones that had abducted her. While they were not all scaly or inhuman looking, many were scarred and some, like a little girl with enormous hands, could never hide their mutations. A stab of pity touched Izabelle as she looked at them.

Adine saw this in her face and knelt down beside her. "We are the Morlocks, the unwanted refuse of both the world of men and the world of mutants. Not all of us are as fortunate as yourself and your dear friends. You asked why. This is why." She took hold of Izabelle's belly and Izabelle jerked away from her. "You are so very unaware of what this baby could be, but I can feel his full potential. I felt it the very first time I touched your skin."

_A flash of white!_ Izabelle remembered the break-in all those months ago. It now seemed so obvious!

"Your child is the son of one of the greatest and most powerful mutants of our time. He will grow to become our leader and we will take shelter under his iron fists. _That_ is why. You would raise him to be weak, to be uncertain, and to serve man. We shall raise him with power and with no mercy."

"You would turn my baby into the leader of terrorists!"

But Adine merely laughed at the insult. "I suppose that is what we appear to be from your perspective. Funny how you are vigilantes while we are 'terrorists.'"

Izabelle kept her mouth shut. Pain was starting in her back that radiated forward.

Anesthesia stood and began to speak to someone near her in low whispers. Izabelle leaned forward slowly; she had an idea.

As Anesthesia spoke, she was suddenly overwhelmed by a flood of memory. Forge. His arms around her after she explained… explained what had made her this way… and his lips…

Izabelle screamed in pain as Anesthesia struck her across the face with all of her strength.

"You touch me again, and I will cut that baby out of you!" Anesthesia's anger was red-hot and terrifying. The mutant horde was completely silent, no one daring to ask what had provoked Anesthesia. She stared at Izabelle for a moment longer and then began to walk into the tunnels once again. In the dim light, Izabelle could see that the pale mutant was blushing.

"Move out!"

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to everyone who commented! I love to hear your reactions!<em>


	12. Chapter 12: Complications

**Chapter 12: Complications**

When Hank awoke it was six am. How had six hours gone by without any news of Izabelle? If they had found something surely he would have heard. He raced to Charles's office and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the entire team assembled there.

They looked like hell: mud covered, soaking wet, and rank. Storm took Hank's hand quickly telling him to sit and they would explain.

"What has happened?" he managed, numbness spreading out from his chest.

Charles looked deeply uncomfortable and the rest of the team looked miserable. "Cerebro cannot locate Izabelle any longer. At least, not as Izabelle."

"What…?" He sounded like air being let out of a tire.

"It means that her powers can be traced but not to her. However, it is one of our Morlocks. It would seem her powers have somehow been transferred to another mutant for the time being. But this makes it much harder to locate her since it cannot be guaranteed that she is with the mutant who now possess her powers."

"Hank, we will find her. Come hell or high water," Scott promised earnestly.

"And it may very well be high water," murmured Kurt, trying to relieve some of the stress in the room.

"Professor!" Jean's exclamation made the entire room jump but Xavier nodded at her.

"I feel her too. We will go to her."

"T' who?" Logan asked.

"A messenger."

They could see the Morlock through the haze of rain as she approached down the driveway to the school, and they waited in the rain some distance from the school. She stopped, still some distance from them, and put her hands around her mouth and shouted to them.

"Only the blue one and the telepaths!"

"What makes you think we will barter with you?" Logan shouted back.

The woman opened her mouth and a tentacle shot out from within. At the end of the tentacle there was a horrifying second mouth but it simply dropped something about a yard away from them. Rain soaked it through quickly and Hank picked it up, his hands shaking. It was a patch of fabric from the sundress Izabelle had been wearing when she had left yesterday.

"Logan, stay here with the others," Charles ordered, nodding for Beast and Jean to follow him. He kept the rain off of himself by a little bubble of force as they walked. They stopped about a yard from the Morlock.

"Where is my wife?" Hank asked and his voice shook.

"She is safe."

"What have you done with her powers?"

"Nothing at all. You should be wondering where _she_ _is_." The Morlock looked directly at Xavier and Hank waited for him to read her memories.

"She's inside another mutant," Xavier explained as he read her mind. "He can absorb other mutants and takes on their powers. They can be removed within a certain frame of time and remain unharmed."

"I am here to warn you. If you come after her, Meme will be more than happy to add both her powers and the powers of your unborn to his collection. If you make no further attempt, you will receive your wife unharmed."

"And my son?"

A wicked grin spread across the Morlock's face. "Everything comes at a price, Dr. McCoy."

It took a huge amount of effort for Jean to restrain Beast and the Morlock looked more than a little shaken as her forehead oozed blood from three parallel cuts, mixing with the rain.

"How will we know when to expect Izabelle's return? Just your word?" Xavier asked calmly.

"You have your machine and your powers. When you sense the child has been born she will be back within the next twenty-four hours."

"Should any harm come to either mother or child, I can assure you that we will be at your doorstep before you can bat an eye." Xavier's voice had taken on an icy menace and the Morlock looked as though she now realized she was out of her depth. "Go on, little mutant, and report back to that snake in the grass that you serve."

They watched her run until they could not see her anymore. Only then did Jean let Beast free. He was resisting the urge to tear up any part of the landscape he could lay hand to. Jean couldn't help but wish for a half of a second that she had Adine's powers; she wanted so much to give him some peace.

"Professor?"

The rest of the team rushed up to them. Hank turned the scrap of fabric over in his hands, wishing he could stop feeling for just a few moments.

"Our hands are tied," Xavier explained, moving the bubble that shielded him from the rain so that it included them all. "Adine knew I would read that mutant backward and forward and that was the real reason she was sent. She knew enough to show the Morlocks have the upper hand and not enough to give away anything important. Izabelle is being held inside another mutant. They will pull her out so that she can give birth but if we try to move on her he will absorb them both permanently. Adine will be able to feel us coming so we cannot sneak up on them. Their location is no longer a secret, but they've built a dam that can be released to flood the room and they would move to another location. She did not know where that would be."

"We can always try. If we get there fast enough we could still get her back couldn't we?" Storm asked.

Xavier shook his head. "She cannot be removed by force."

"Well…" Jean said hesitantly. "Her due date _is_ today. We might not have long to wait. It would be less risky to go after them both after he's born, especially if what they want is the baby."

"But…" Everyone looked at Rouge as she trailed off. She had said very little through all of this and she was now watching Hank closely. "But to not be there…for the birth…" She trailed off again and would not meet their eyes. She could not imagine it; she was deeply jealous and in a very different way she could understand some of Hank's pain. She knew what it was like to have potential ripped away from her.

Hank moved to her and kissed her forehead sympathetically. "Read my thoughts and you aren't even a telepath," he murmured to her.

"It would appear this is our only choice," he said to the group at large. "Now, if you will excuse me, I will be in my lab, trying to think of something other than my wife in labour in a sewer somewhere."

* * *

><p>Izabelle regained consciousness once she left Meme's body. She had been reassured it was like being in a coma and mercifully it was. She had enough nightmare fodder without memories of being trapped in someone else's body. The mutant they had sent to the school was explaining what had happened as she awoke. Three long scratches ran across her forehead and Izabelle hid a smile. Somewhere out there Hank was still fighting for her.<p>

But the smile turned into a grimace as pain radiated through her in a wave. The pain had started hours ago (she could not guess how many since it was always dark down here) and she was trying desperately to ignore it. Izabelle began to lean forward to relieve the pain in her back and suddenly felt her water break. She sat quickly tried to hide it.

"Excellent," Adine declared placing her hands on her hips and grinning at the Morlocks grouped around her. "They will have realized that we have total control in this situation. This buys us time until the child is born."

Izabelle bit back a moan but did not succeed. All eyes turned to her and her face screwed up in pain.

"See if her water has broken," Adine ordered to Feral. Anesthesia would not come near her after the last time they had contact with one another.

The cat-like woman examined her quickly, looked over at Anesthesia, and nodded. A hungry grin spread across the Morlock commander's face.

"And right on time. How kind of your baby to be so obliging, Izabelle."

But to Anesthesia's dismay, the situation did not remain as she had planned it. There was a loud rumble and the room they were in shook. Morlocks screamed as chunks fell from the roof and smashed on the floor. Then water began to pour in. Berzerker met her eyes with fear and then rushed off to take care of the dam.

"Every able body go and secure that dam!" Anesthesia shrieked and dozens of mutants rushed away after Berzerker. But Anesthesia grabbed hold of Scaleface before she could go. "You stay. We need someone who can carry her."

Izabelle was moved to a makeshift tent that had been set up on the dais. She was shocked to see how rudimentary the supplies were within and concluded correctly that if this was the treatment she was getting for carrying "their savior" the others must all have lived in the most abject poverty. Again she felt pity for them; they had kidnapped her because of the lunacies of their leader but their need was very real. Izabelle was trying hard to breathe deeply and calm down but nothing that was happening was helping her do this.

"What time is it?"

Adine gave her a look but Izabelle repeated the question.

"Eight in the morning."

Izabelle calculated in her head. She was taken around two in the afternoon the day before. Contractions had not started in earnest until they had finally stopped traveling; at a guess, that meant she had been feeling far apart contractions for about twelve hours. They had not increased in frequency and her water had only now broken, but the pain was unbearable. Something was wrong.

Anesthesia watched her closely as Izabelle realized all of this. Berzerker returned though, distracting her attentions.

"Well?"

"It's less sound but it will hold up for a few hours at best. Another tunnel collapsed much further up and we've been hit with all of that water."

Anesthesia nodded and then sent him for someone named Cybelle. A young woman with short spiky hair showed up not long after.

"How far dilated is she?" Anesthesia asked with no preface.

The woman moved to check and Izabelle tried to scurry away from her.

"She is our midwife. Either you work with her or you deliver alone."

The cold response was enough to motivate Izabelle. This woman, who had once been the lover of her close friend, was willing to let her crawl off and attempt to give birth alone and uncared for if she did not follow her commands. If she did follow her commands, her baby would be taken from her forever. Fine then; she would deliver and she would do everything she could to protect her child from this monster. She allowed the woman to inspect her but the answer almost made her sick with worry.

"Five centimeters." Cybelle turned to Izabelle. "How long have you been having contractions?"

"Far apart for twelve hours."

Anesthesia watched Cybelle's shocked expression with frustration. "I take it this is bad?"

"It's failure to progress. If her contractions don't pick up…"

Izabelle groaned as another seized her.

"Well, what do we do?"

"We wait, I guess. But if she doesn't dilate more there is nothing I can do."

So they waited. The black silence was only punctuated by Izabelle's cries from each contraction and by the rumblings from the wall of water that was dangerously close. Her contractions picked up slightly around ten in the morning but she still had not dilated beyond six centimeters.

"I don't understand what you are telling me!" Anesthesia shouted at Cybelle. "How can she not just push? People have babies every minute!"

"She has to be at nine at least before the baby will even move so that it _can_ be pushed. She's not moving to the next stage of the birth and _I can't change that_!"

"So what happens?"

"Without anything else the baby will die. She may as well."

Izabelle began to cry. Her sobs echoed in the quiet that followed.

"A hospital?" Berzerker volunteered.

"No," Anesthesia snapped. "We wouldn't stand a chance of getting away with the child."

More silence and then: "Get Hank."

The group that was with her stared at her.

"You must be out of your mind. Bring your husband down on our heads?"

"You idiot bitch!" Izabelle screamed, reaching the end of her fuse. "He can _deliver this child_! I am sure he would agree to _anything_ by now just to be here! Bind his hands however you want but BRING ME MY HUSBAND!" Her screaming echoed and died away.

"She's right, Anesthesia," Cybelle opted hesitantly. "You could bring down an elephant with your mutation. If he tries anything just force him to his knees. I can't do anything else for her though."

Anesthesia watched Izabelle for a moment longer before leaving the tent. Izabelle could hear her asking for someone named Whisperer and heard them leave. Now she was alone with no one she even remotely knew. She could only pray that Hank would arrive.

* * *

><p>"Hank!"<p>

Hank sat up so fast it made his head spin. He held his head in his hands and tried to remember. It was now eleven in the morning. Five hours had passed since he had been told he would not see Izabelle until after she delivered. He had fallen asleep, which surprised him, and then…

"Hank!"

Now he was on his feet. That sound, the sound of Izabelle screaming his name in distress, was in his head! Somewhere there was someone who was responsible for this.

"You're a wise man, Dr. McCoy."

That voice made his fur bristle so thick he looked like a bottlebrush. "Where are you?" he snarled into the air.

"Since you are so wise you would have the good sense to not draw attention to this. You would have the good sense to gather any medical supplies you may need, and to exit the building, heading for the cliffs."

"Supplies for what?"

"Supplies for the birth of your child. Further instructions will be given once we see you, Dr. McCoy."

He could feel the presence slipping out of his mind. He was alone again. He ripped through the hospital wing like a tornado. The problem was he had no idea what to bring. There could be a thousand different reasons they had come for him and none of them good. He had to leave the mansion without being seen, but the stormy weather made it much easier and he slipped away unnoticed. He reached the cliffs in minutes and out of the dark storm two figures approached.

"Hello, Doctor."

Hank snarled, his lips curling back from rows of white fangs. "You take my wife from me and now you come crawling back?"

"I will keep this very simple," Anesthesia continued as if nothing had been said. "You have two options. One: you accompany us without incident, deliver your child, surrender your child to me, and you and Izabelle return home."

Hank lurched forward but felt a quake of fear when she stood her ground.

"The other option is for you to kill, harm, or ignore my words. As a result your wife and baby will both die, much to the disappointment of all involved."

"What has happened?"

"She has been in labour for fourteen hours and is at six centimeters. This means nothing to me but is apparently a very big deal." And she could read on his face that it was indeed.

Hank thought through what was in the bag he carried. He could intensify her contractions and…

"Is she safe now? Where do you have her? Is anyone with her?"

"She is safe. Our midwife is with her. Are you coming or not Doctor? There will be other children for us; there may never be other children for you."

And out of his pure desperation to see Izabelle again, Hank McCoy agreed.


	13. Chapter 13: Birth

**Chapter 13: Birth**

Izabelle was beginning to fall into total despair when she heard something so familiar she could hardly believe she had heard it. But when a blue hand pulled back the flap of the tent she knew it was true.

"Henry!"

Hank dropped everything and scooped her up in his arms, hugging her as tightly as he dared. It was like a shipwrecked sailor giving up swimming in the vast ocean and allowing the sea to take him; he could relax and just sink in the waves of emotion. He felt as if he could breathe deeply for the first time in almost two days, as if he could stop struggling to get through every moment.

Their lips met and Izabelle began to believe for the first time that she could actually be able to deliver her child. She had thought of nothing else since her abduction, taking everything in stride in a way only someone who had another life to protect could. She had not resisted and she had not tried to escape, because she only wanted this one thing to succeed. And now this was possible.

"I did not bring you here to romance your wife," Adine snapped sourly. "Do your job."

Hank lay Izabelle down gently and, refusing to let go of her hand, pulled himself to his full height, and stared down at Anesthesia.

"I realize why you've brought me here, _Adine_. I have already begun to do my job. She is in a panic and that will improve nothing. You may outnumber me and I believe you would kill me, but I promise you that if you interrupt me again I will kill you without hesitation."

"What about your precious X-Men code?"

"I could not care less." He said every word very slowly and very deliberately, moving toward her one step at a time until he was pushing her out of the tent. She only came up to his shoulder and her angular frame was no match for his broad might and power. Anesthesia gave him a venomous look but exited and walked some distance away.

Hank snapped the flaps shut and tied them deftly before he turned back to Izabelle. She looked more wretched and less wretched than he had prepared himself for. She was not beat up which he had expected but she was very dirty and very pale. He pulled a hospital gown out of his bag and handed it to her.

"We need to get you in something clean," he said, coaxing her to stand. "That's our first step."

Izabelle nodded and gladly stripped off the filthy sundress. Hank spread the sheets across the cement floor and tied up the back of her gown. He would never have guessed that this was how he would be delivering his first-born. He helped Izabelle resettle herself on the floor and knelt beside her.

"I'm going to see if you've progressed at all, darling. All right?"

Izabelle nodded wearily and was dismayed to see from his expression that she had not progressed.

"What I need is for you to save your strength. I am going to give you a shot of Oxytocin to increase the strength of your contractions. That should take care of everything," he soothed. The injection was easy enough but they now had to wait. Hank sat behind her and leaned Izabelle against his stomach and chest, his legs forming a nest for her to sit in. His hands never stopped moving and she knew what he was doing (checking her pulse, feeling for the position of the baby, and measuring the strength of her next contraction) but she felt so safe in his arms that nothing worried her any more.

"Have you been harmed or mistreated?" he breathed into her ear.

She shook her head and whispered back. "I tried to bring her around by showing her memories of Forge. I got myself slapped for that, but otherwise, nothing."

"It upset her?" Hank was surprised.

"Yes. Very much." An idea occurred to Izabelle and she looked up at him. "Does anyone know where you are?" A contraction hit her and she grabbed his hand. Quickly he put pressure on her belly and felt that the contraction was at least stronger. Izabelle felt this as well and did not tell him that it was more painful than the previous had been.

Hank shook his head sorrowfully, in answer to her question. "We may live to regret this, but I had to come to you."

Izabelle sighed. "I knew you would… I was just hoping. Henry, how are _you_?"

"What do you mean?"

But Izabelle noted that he now avoided her eyes and so she pressed him on it.

"I mean that you look exhausted and you are restless. Are _you_ okay?"

He gave her a shaky smile. How could he explain what he had gone through emotionally over the past two days? Eloquent as he was there were some emotions he found very difficult to express. "I will be. It's been very hard. It is still hard." His voice cracked and she pressed his hand to her face, kissing his palm. "This isn't what I wanted for…this," he said, clearing his throat with a cough.

"Lie down. Please," she insisted at the look he gave her. "Nothing is happening yet and I will wake you. You look worse than I feel and that cannot be good."

Hank wanted very much to protest but he knew his wife was trying to take care of him in the only way she was currently able. So he lay down beside her and she stroked his hair until he was deeply asleep, his hand curled tightly around hers.

* * *

><p>Izabelle bore up under the pain as long as she could but when she started feeling faint she woke him. Anesthesia reappeared after hearing her renewed cries of pain and brought them water. She waited around, knowing Hank would check how things were coming along.<p>

"Nine centimeters," he said, relief heavy in his voice.

Anesthesia left the tent, grinning from ear to ear. Now things were back on track.

"Alright, Izabelle," Hank said, holding her face gently in his hands. "The baby is moving down for delivery. It will take some time and it will hurt very much. I will give you something for the pain but it will not be enough."

Izabelle nodded as another contraction brought out more cries of pain. It was horrible to hear Hank say those things but she knew he was only being honest with her to prepare her. In the small window between contractions she was given an injection that numbed some of the pain. The waves of pain continued in close succession for thirty minutes. After what seemed like an eternity, Hank moved so that he was crouched in front of her.

"Okay, Izabelle, my love, the baby is perfectly in position. You only need to push and things should be fine."

She nodded, eyes wide with fear, and the birth began.

Outside the tent, Anesthesia, Berzerker, and Cybelle listened. Other Morlocks had gathered in the central room that contained the dais and the tent and more Morlocks joined when it was announced that the end was in sight. Every so often Berzerker left to check on the dam, but it would hold steady long enough for their purposes.

Hank noticed the baby's mutation as soon as it crowned, but did not say anything. It was dark and he was so worn down he could be seeing anything.

"Izabelle, you are very nearly there!"

They grabbed hands and she screamed with everything in her, pushing with all of her might. And her might, small as it was, was rewarded with the sound of a baby's cries. Hank held in his hands a perfectly healthy baby boy and he felt so lightheaded from happiness that he was nearly afraid to move.

"Izabelle, it's our son…"

The words were breathed like a prayer as he tied the cord, cleaned, swaddled, and handed the baby to Izabelle.

"Henry!" she gasped. "He's beautiful and so blue!"

Indeed, the child was a deep royal blue like his father, though he had the human physical traits of his mother. He had a head full of curly blue hair and no fur, which delighted Hank. He wrapped his arms around his family and could not believe his luck. Only then did they realize that a sound had been building outside the tent, a sound that reminded them of just what kind of luck they had. It was cheering: loud and crazed cheering.

"Oh God!" Izabelle breathed, clutching her newborn to her. "Hank! What will we do?!"

"Give me the child of course." Anesthesia entered the tent with the girl with enormous hands. "Don't make me pry him from your dead body."

"You!" Hank growled and lunged.

With one touch from the girl he froze where he stood. Izabelle screamed and touched him, afraid of knocking him over. He was not dead but he was not moving, his face frozen in shock and anger.

"He will be fine shortly. A touch like that could kill _you_ however. That will be your only warning," snarled Anesthesia as she wrenched the baby from Izabelle's arms.

"Have pity!" Izabelle screamed hysterically. She felt as if her mind were breaking. How could this be happening to them?

Anesthesia moved to the edge of the dais and held up the child without a word. The cheering increased so much that the child began to wail and Adine shushed the newborn. With the child in her arms she addressed the Morlocks: "We have felt the oppression and the abuse of humans and mutants alike. Long have we been too weak to defend ourselves, too poor to move up in life, and too insignificant for anyone to hear our cries. No more! Now we have one that can lead us in power, one who we will raise to bring terror to those who have crushed under their heel for too long! And now… we leave this place!"

Hank began to move again, slowly as if he were unfreezing. He dropped to his knees and Izabelle shook him as if she could wake him from this. All around them were the sounds of the Morlocks packing to leave and the rumbling of a dam that would burst at any moment.

Adine returned and lightly touched Hank's neck before moving away from him. "You'll forgive us. We need this."

The tent was swept off of them as Meme collected it in one grab. Hank could feel his body had returned to normal, but he lay still and waited for the right moment.

"It has been a pleasure, dear," Adine said to Izabelle. "You were not as weak as you seemed and I am truly surprised. Your child will be a credit to your strength I can reassure you. Your friends will find you shortly I imagine. Farewell!"

She had walked about two yards away when Hank sprang. But rather than landing on his feet, he collapsed, writhing and twisting in pain.

"STOP IT!" Izabelle screamed, still just barely able to sit up. "STOP HURTING HIM!"

"This is a personal favorite of mine," Adine said to Hank as he lay on the wet cement floor gasping and roaring in pain. "Not everyone can appreciate the pain of having their flesh burned away. That's how I found the Morlocks after all. Oh yes," she said now fixing her eyes on Izabelle. "Some men were very pleased to catch a mutant. A lighter and a can of spray paint consumed my torso and half of my hips. Fortunately, the Morlocks intervened or I would not be here today." She released Hank from the blinding pain of fire and he lay moaning. "So you see why we need this little bundle of joy more than you? I swore that day I would never suffer like that again. And your child has made this possibility a reality. Now, you will excuse me."

And then she walked away, their child crying in her arms. She stopped at the entrance only to call back to them, "Not sure how long that dam will hold. Better get a move on!"

Izabelle stumbled over to Hank and collapsed on top of him, clutching him to her as if that could undo what had just happened. Hank simply tried not to move, since every nerve ending felt as though it had been scorched, and tears made tracks in his fur. Once again, Anesthesia had the upper hand and there was nothing they could do. Silence settled over them in the darkness.

"We must move," Hank rasped once he felt he could hobble more than a foot at a time. "We can catch up and her powers will not maintain a hold over me by the time we find them."

Izabelle nodded, though she didn't feel she could move very quickly. She changed once again into a dress Hank had brought her and, supporting as much of her weight as he could, the pair started after the Morlocks.

* * *

><p>Bobby burst into Cerebro completely out of breath. He had run to the labs to tell Hank that the baby had been born and now was the time to move, only to realize that Hank had disappeared.<p>

"Professor! He's gone!"

"He's with Izabelle. They are in the sewers and the Morlocks are moving away with the child. I never thought to check where Hank was; it seems so obvious now! They must have lured him there to help with the birth." Xavier looked truly despairing as he said this; these kinds of oversights were what cost good people their lives.

"Then we have to go after them!"

"At once," the Professor agreed. "Izabelle will be very weak and Hank cannot be much better off."

"I'm coming," Forge announced from the doorway. Bobby and Xavier turned to look at him.

"Forge…" Bobby began.

"Maybe Adine's in there somewhere. Maybe someone can talk her down out of this. I have to try. Professor?" He looked at Xavier pleadingly and Xavier nodded his consent.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bobby asked once Forge had gone.

"I think you will be surprised at what Forge is capable of."

* * *

><p>Hank and Izabelle made it about a mile before despair enveloped them completely. There was no way they could catch up like this. Izabelle could only walk about a block at a time and Hank could not carry her because the jostling made her insides hurt terribly. Hank had recovered enough he could catch the Morlocks alone, but…<p>

"You have to leave me," Izabelle said, stopping and leaning against a wall. "We will never catch them like this."

"Izabelle…" Hank breathed. She was right but it simply couldn't be done. Not after he had just gotten her back. He reached for her, but his hand was slapped away.

"Don't!" she cried. "You _must_ do this! If you don't, our child will be lost and I could never forgive myself! Or _you_!" Tears stood out in her eyes but she angrily brushed them away. She had been pushing herself to be angry for the past hour. If she were angry she would not be so scared of being left in the dark.

"But I can't leave you…" Hank said pleadingly. He was still fighting the solid fact that this was the only way.

"You coward! You…" she struggled for a word, "_beast_! Get away from me!" She held her hands up as if she could somehow fight him off with the tiny amount of power that was left in her. But in a case such as this, memories could be enough to bring him to his knees.

"Oh, Izabelle," he murmured and gathered her in his arms. She hugged him tightly, wishing he would never let her go. But she pushed him away roughly and moved away from him.

"Go! Get our son!" Izabelle tried to sound furious but desperation was clear in her voice.

"There were signs of a work crew a few blocks back. Get above ground," Hank said.

Izabelle nodded not trusting herself to speak.

Hank stared at her for a moment and then turned and ran into the dark. It was a relief to run, to pound the ground as if it were an enemy and wheel and soar through the dark. His heart was breaking and he was not at all certain this was the right thing to do. He was between Scylla and Charybdis but he feared he had chosen Charybdis. But he was gaining on the Morlocks.

After Hank was gone, Izabelle realized the enormity of what she had done. She could not see in the dark like he could and it was still pouring rain from every gutter she passed. She was alone and trapped in this terrible underworld. Forcing herself to breathe, she moved with her hand along the pipes to her right, heading back toward the work crew.

It took a very long time for her to reach the flickering lights and voices. As she went the ominous rumblings of the Morlock dam grew louder and more threatening. It was the topic of conversation among the men when she cried out to them feebly.

"Please! Help!"

The men started, hardly able to believe there was a woman down here. The sewers were the most dangerous place to be in this part of the city. Someone helped her walk until she reached the circle of light that was made up by their headlamps.

"You're in bad shape!" someone exclaimed. "What happened?"

"I had a baby," she murmured only half aware of what was happening to her. She felt feverish and horribly weak.

"You did _what_?" There were murmurs on all sides. "What happened to it?"

"They took it from me."

"Who?"

"Mutants."

Murmurs turned into rumblings; the sewer workers knew of the mutants living in the dark places under the city.

"My husband," Izabelle tried to explain, grabbing someone's shirt for emphasis. "He's down here. He needs help. He went after the baby. It's…" The world spun and she fell into rough arms. "It's a boy."

Then blackness.

The foreman held the woman who had just collapsed on him with a look akin to distress. But he recovered himself quickly.

"Get her topside! Make a bed for her in the work trailer."

Getting her up while unconscious was quite a feat but she was soon lying on a couch in a wood paneled trailer. Now that the foreman could look at her clearly, it was obvious something had certainly happened to her. There were traces of blood on her dress and she was wan and pale.

"What do you think happened?" one of the workers asked.

"Probably out of her mind. Delirious at least."

"What about this husband? She said he was down there. Should we … look or something?"

The foreman shrugged. "If he's looking for that group of mutants I'm not anxious to find him. We'll keep her here and get her to a doctor when we can. But we've got to get back down there and find that water blockage before it bursts. And the ambulances are busy all over the city already. Someone can stay outside in case she wakes up."

The others agreed and one man agreed to stay under the awning outside the trailer in case she woke. The workers returned to the underground labyrinth.

Izabelle slept on and Hank ran through the darkness.

* * *

><p><em>Two more chapters! <em>


	14. Chapter 14: Deluge

_The Morlocks and all their powers belong to Marvel; sadly, they aren't mine (aside from Anesthesia)._

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><p><strong>Chapter 14: Deluge<strong>

Izabelle dreamt of Hank. While her powers lay in memory, she could see him as he ran through the tunnels, could feel him inhaling and scenting the Morlocks, and could feel his heartache. She was dreaming his memories but moments after they happened, watching his actions in a minute delay.

Her sleep became restless as Hank caught up with the Morlocks…

* * *

><p>Wolverine and Nightcrawler led the charge through the darkness. Nightcrawler came in and out of sight as he blended with the darkness, his yellow eyes giving him away. Close behind followed Cyclops, Jean, Shadowcat, Magma, and Forge. Magma had been on the Blackbird before anyone of them had gotten there and would not be moved, so here she was. Sunspot and Cannonball had been left with the plane, because even though they insisted on coming they were more of a liability underground. Storm had been sent to Izabelle's parents to inform them of what had happened and what was happening now.<p>

"I think vere very close," Nightcrawler called back to them. A roar nearly split their ears coming from their left as he finished speaking.

"I'll say," growled Wolverine, claws shooting out.

Hank entered the large chamber moments before the X-Men. It was lined with bunks long forgotten by the world above, probably a forgotten bomb shelter. He was livid and the roar tore out of him as he saw Anesthesia with his child; he had caught her and he wanted her to fear for her life.

Adine looked at Hank with wide eyes, the baby still in her arms. She had not let anyone carry him beside herself. She still believed she could bring Beast down, but she might not have time if he rushed her and that scared her.

Someone shouted that the X-Men were there as well and the Morlocks scattered, despite Anesthesia's angry shouts. They were not soldiers and the presence of both Beast and the X-Men was too much for them. A core group of menacing looking Morlocks still surrounded Anesthesia though.

"Hank!" Magma called to him and the expression of relief he gave them was touching. He knew he was not fighting alone any more; he stood a chance now.

Wolverine turned his attention to Anesthesia. "Give us the child!"

"Do you really think that it will be that easy? We can hide forever down here and you will never find us! Morlocks!" Adine eyed the X-Men. Her eyes only betrayed concern when she saw Forge. She whispered orders to the Morlocks around her and then each one headed for a specific X-Man. Adine hung back like a captain in battle and the fight began.

Though she lifted the female Morlock off of her feet, Jean was caught off guard by a tentacle that latched on to her shoulder. She shrieked in pain as it bit her, and the owner was thrown to a wall. The hideous second mouth disappeared, but the damage was done. The bite had delivered a poison that, while it would not kill her, would certainly wreck her nervous system for some time. The floor tilted and she fell to her knees.

Wolverine saw this but was busy and in great pain. A woman had come after him, which had almost disappointed him. He had raced after her and had felt his skin burning off, causing him to retreat. The woman sprayed a cloud of pure acid from the pores of her body. Though he could heal it would take a good deal of time to find a way past this mutant, especially as he could not see with the damage it did to his eyes.

Cyclops found himself contending with an enormous lizard. Not only would his blasts only damage the scales and did not seriously wound it, the thing breathed fire. Beast joined him, trying to draw attention away from Cyclops. The two of them together were able to pair blows with blasts, but Beast risked getting sliced open with its claws in order to do so. He was raked across the ribs, but not too badly, and shortly after Scaleface's tail knocked out Cyclops's feet from under him.

Nightcrawler had managed to deal with the giant mutant that absorbed others for quite some time, but now he had been caught and was now fighting to stay outside of the mutant who was trying to suck him in. Shadowcat noticed and ran through the mutant, pulling Nightcrawler the rest of the way out.

"Go help Magma!" she called, facing Meme herself. It would be much harder for this mutant to absorb her.

Magma was wrestling to get away from a gigantic feline woman. She turned into molten fire and the cat screamed and let her go. But the feline, Feral, got her hands on a sharp length of broken pipe and shifted the fight in her own favor. Nightcrawler was able to disarm her since she did not see him coming, but she threw him into Cybelle as punishment. The acid she spewed burned his leg horribly before Wolverine was able to get between them.

Forge had been paired against a human lightning bolt. Berzerker sparked and threw electricity, which Forge had been able to diffuse by throwing rods to detract the electricity from himself. The explosions echoed around them as the electricity hit the cement walls. The mechanically minded mutant, who was really not much of a fighter, managed to get incredibly lucky though. When the next chunk of cement exploded a piece flew off and hit Berzerker in the head, knocking him out completely.

Forge could not believe his fortune and he turned to survey the larger fight. Jean was helping Kitty with Meme as they tried to sink him into the walls without getting absorbed themselves. Cyclops and Beast were finally overpowering Scaleface while Logan was using Kurt to throw projectiles at the acid-spraying mutant. Forge tried to look as little as possible at Logan's burned face and body. Magma was tying up Feral, who they had managed to knock out, and she signaled for to Forge to go after Anesthesia.

The blonde mutant stood at the far end of the chamber, the baby now crying in her arms. Forge could see another opening near her and ducked back into the sewers; if he could find a way over to her he could talk to her with out others seeing. He crept along in the dark and managed to find the opening near her.

"Adine!"

She jumped at a voice so near at hand. A knife flashed out of her pocket but she hesitated when she saw Forge there.

"Get out of here, Forge. You do not want to be the cause of the death of this child." The knife moved towards the baby and she faced the fight once again.

"Adine, how could you?!" Forge pleaded. "You're threatening a _baby_."

"You are fully in control of this situation. Let me walk away and nothing will happen."

"Adine…"

She turned to face him as she heard the pain in his voice. Her eyes told what her lips would not; it hurt her to cause him pain.

"You don't understand and I don't expect you to."

"But after all these months…"

"You cannot change me. This is what I am!"

"You're mine!" A new voice entered the conversation.

Adine was as surprised as Forge to see Hank grab her around the throat. Forge had unintentionally provided the perfect distraction. But Adine was not beaten yet.

"Hank!"

Beast turned mechanically at the sound of Izabelle's voice. He saw her dragged in and her head pulled back; a knife was placed at her throat.

"Let me go…" Adine chocked.

Beast looked her in the eye. "I don't believe you!"

"Fine…"

And when Beast turned back he saw Izabelle's throat cut and saw her blood splash onto the cement.

"NO!" Without realizing he released his grip on Adine.

That was all she needed. The vision was gone and Beast felt the knife cut into his arm. He pulled back and before he could strike he was covered in the feeling of being slashed with blades. Forge watched in horror as Adine began to move away from Beast; he now rolled in pain on the ground.

"Adine, stop!" he cried. "Adine! You might kill him!"

But her eyes were focused and she could not hear him. Forge looked around. Wolverine was healing, and Kurt had acid burns running down his leg. Jean was still unsteady and Cyclops was searching for his glasses. Magma was realizing what was going on at their end of the chamber but would never make it in time and Kitty had been knocked out. There was no one who could help, no one but him.

The laser blast was precise, shooting straight through Adine's shoulder and knocking her backward into the wall. In the moment before her head connected with the wall, she looked at Forge with pure disbelief. Then she lay still, the child still in her arms.

Forge took the baby away from her easily, but he did not stop staring at her. He had not shot anyone before. And he had just shot his lover. He had not killed her when he could have. But was that right? Wolverine certainly would have without hesitation. But it just wasn't in Forge to make himself an executioner. He turned and left her lying on the ground.

Beast tried to pick himself up but could not. It was impossible to believe his skin had not been flayed off. That was one of the most horrible mutations he had ever personally encountered and that included Danielle Moonstone and Tildy. He felt Forge shake him and he realized that Forge was holding his son. Hank scooped the child into his arms, holding his son close and trying to comfort him.

"Forge… Thank you."

Forge nodded and started pacing without realizing it. He felt hurt, betrayed, and venomously angry. None of these were normal emotions for him and they did not suit the usually cheerful mutant well.

The X-Men were starting to regroup and called to Hank and Forge to just stay where they were. But a rumble shook the chamber.

"The dam…" breathed Hank.

Another rumble sounded, and the X-Men were forced to scatter as rubble thundered down from above. Hank rolled instinctively toward the opening Forge had been in earlier. He put himself between the baby and the rocks that rained down on them. Once the dust cleared, Hank realized he was alone with his son. His heart slammed in his chest. Recovering his child was one victory but there was another battle now presenting itself to him.

Hours after she had given birth he had left Izabelle alone in the sewers. She could be anywhere now: lost, struggling, or lying in the sewers. He had to find her.

"_Hank?_" Jean's voice sounded in his head. "_Are you okay?_"

"_I'm fine. I'm going for Izabelle. Get out before the water traps you!_" he responded, starting to clear a path through the rocks.

"_No! Hank you stay where you are and Kurt will get you and we can find Izabelle._"

"_But she may still be down here! I have to find her!_" He had his way out and he charged off into the darkness again.

On the other side of the rubble Jean cursed angrily.

"Is he okay?" Scott asked.

"Yes… Maybe. He's gone. He's looking for Izabelle. He knows where he left her and where she was headed. But the dam is breaking! We've got to get out of here!"

"Is there a faster way there?"

Jean stood motionless as the room shook around them. Magma looked more scared than any of the others; being trapped under water was her worst nightmare.

"I've got her!" Jean exclaimed. "We can get to her and Hank above ground if we hurry!"

* * *

><p>Izabelle awoke screaming. The roaring and rumbling had sent the work crew above ground and they were standing around the trailer when she woke. They looked terrified as she lurched to her feet, a hand on her head.<p>

"You need to take it easy, Miss," the foreman addressed her.

"Where's. My. CHILD?!" she shrilled.

"Now, mam', an ambulance is on its way for you, so you just –"

What followed was pure reaction and it was never duplicated again in her life. Izabelle threw her arms out to her sides and a force flew out of her that knocked the men off of their feet. The walls of the trailer rattled and some cabinets crashed to the floor. Then everything was still.

Izabelle now had no memory of who she was and she was creating no memories as she stepped over the unconscious men and walked into the rain. She had cast her memories from herself in a blast of force and now all she had was one objective: to find Hank McCoy. She calmly climbed down the ladder to the sewers and began to make her way through the dark, following the path she had seen her husband take.

* * *

><p>Hank realized what a mistake he had made only when the water level began to rise. He was no longer running as much as climbing and wading. It slowed his progress and it made him fear what was coming. But he was only a few blocks away. He just needed a little more time…<p>

Hank felt the dam burst before he heard it. He could feel the tremors in the ground and the rumble of the rocks. Then he heard the water. The water had been backed up there for almost three days and it had rained non-stop through that time. He moved as fast as he possibly could, climbing across anything he could grab hold of. He turned another bend and saw her, pale as a ghost and moving like a phantom. Her eyes were vacant for a moment as he stopped in front of her. But she soon recognized him.

"Henry!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck. She took their son in her arms and grinned up at her husband. She was completely unaware of the danger they were in. There was no time and Hank could feel it. The water was coming. Izabelle's features quickly registered fear as the roar of water grew louder.

Hank grabbed her up in his arms and scrambled for the nearest manhole. The water chased them, now carrying with it a torrent of debris. Izabelle, facing the wall of rushing water, could not even cry out, it was happening so quickly.

They were only a block away.

Hank reached the manhole she had come from and scrambled up the ladder as best he could. He tossed her as gently as possible onto the edge of concrete and she scrambled away, clutching the baby, to make room for him. She turned back to the manhole and grabbed onto his arm to help him up.

The water hit him like a wall, and he looked up into her eyes. Clear blue eyes locked with hazel eyes and their very souls clung together. Then he was torn from her grasp before she could react. When she looked down, all she could see was swirling grey water.

He was gone.

* * *

><p>The X-Men poured out of the jet and realized immediately that it was too late.<p>

They could hear Izabelle's desolate screams before they saw her. They ran after the sound and found a sewer worker with a huge bruise on his forehead restraining her while another man tried to comfort the baby. Near her feet was an open manhole, water rushing almost to the very surface of it. It was not hard to guess what had happened.

Forge ran to Izabelle and had her in his arms in seconds. She collapsed against him, the screams dying away into sobs. Magma took the baby from the worker as Jean "adjusted" their memories and she was surprised to see that the baby looked as rosy as any human baby. But the baby also wore a man's watch on his leg. Slipping off the watch, the baby returned to his natural deep blue.

The sight of this blue baby boy was too much for them. Amara leaned against Roberto, tears starting in both their eyes. Jean had her face buried in Scott's chest and Sam looked stunned. Kurt had dropped to his knees and held his face in his hands and Logan was looking for something he could shred up. Kitty sat on a folding chair nearby and stared off, tears mixing with the rain.

Hank had meant so much to all of them. He had tended all their wounds. He had offered advice, jokes, and friendship to all of them. And he had risked his life for this tiny blue baby and for his wife.

There was no movement and no sound other than Izabelle's sobs for some time.

Once Sam was able to pull himself together, he approached Magma.

"She needs her baby."

"Sam…" Magma pleaded, trying to keep the rain off of the newborn. "She needs time."

"Amara, give me the baby." His tone was even but insistent and she did as he said.

Sam approached Izabelle and simply wrapped one of her arms around her son. She looked at the baby as if trying to remember something for a moment. Then some other instinct seemed to take over and she took him into her arms. Her expression calmed somewhat.

"Has he been fed?" Sam coaxed.

Izabelle shook her head slowly. "Where…?"

"Take the jet. We can wait."

She nodded and calmly walked onto the jet.

The X-Men looked at Cannonball with surprise and awe.

"How…?" Kurt asked, trailing off.

"Mah mother had a ton of kids. When mah father died that was the only thing that helped her. Holding her babies always brought her back."

After some time Izabelle reappeared, her son now dozing. "I don't have anything dry for him. Do we…?"

"I'll find something, darlin'," Logan answered her, his voice rougher than usual. He stopped on the ramp beside her and gently gave her a kiss on the forehead before passing into the plane.

Her eyes were red from crying, but they were dry now.

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><p><em>One more chapter! Please read it! It is super vital to the story!<em>

_Also, I am flying tomorrow (hence the early chapter) and so hopefully the last one will go up on Friday but it may be a bit later! _

_Review and let me know what you think!_


	15. Chapter 15: The End

_Sorry this took so long! Everyone's wanted to keep us super busy so time got away from me! Hopefully you al like the ending! Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 15: The End<strong>

Izabelle watched her baby sleeping in the baby bed that was now placed beside what had been her and Hank's bed. It was the first time the little one seemed at peace since his very traumatizing birth. His resemblance to Hank made her tear up all over again and she stroked his back and head. After a few minutes she went back to staring at the ceiling, lying back on all the pillows piled up behind her and catching whiffs of Hank's cologne from the sheets.

It felt as though her life could not possibly get harder. Her parents had come by once she was at the school and once it was clear she and the baby were both stabilized. Her father had threatened her mom into keeping it together; he had told Carol that if she broke down all over Izabelle he would make her leave. Izabelle had appreciate that more than she could even express since all she wanted right now was to sink into numbness.

Someone knocked at the door and Izabelle considered playing dead before she called out, "Come in!"

Forge entered her room silently and walked over to the baby bed. It made Izabelle deeply sad to see him so depressed. His face looked as though the lines in it had deepened just over the past two days. He gently ran a hand over the newborn's head and Izabelle waited for him to break the silence. The hurt in the room was so thick it seemed to push the air out of the room.

"How's he doing?"Forge asked quietly.

"He's healthy. He should be fine."

"Name?"

"Not sure. We had one picked out, but... it hurts."

He nodded, still watching the sleeping baby.

"Any idea what his mutation might be?"

"None. Hopefully, not just the color. Hank never liked..." Izabelle trailed off.

"Izabelle, I'm so sorry." Forge sat beside her on the edge of the bed.

She gave him a shaky smile and shook her head. "You didn't do anything."

Forge looked even worse now. "But I did..."

"What do you mean?"

"Adine wanted to change the schedules around and I set it up for her. I knew Hank was trying to keep you away from her but I tried not to notice _why_. If I hadn't –"

"No," Izabelle cut him off. "His death has nothing to do with you. She was waiting since she arrived."

"And she found an idiot willing to believe her. That bitch never cared about me."

"Forge..."

Izabelle's tone made him look up; it was pleading and comforting. She reached over and took his hand in hers. A moment later, Forge saw several little scenes from when they had been together. There was a sense of happiness and conflict that accompanied them as well. Izabelle gave him a half smile and he turned his back to her, staring at the wall for some time. In some ways it was easier to know she had cared and in some ways it made it much harder.

"I shot her," Forge finally said to Izabelle. "She could have killed Hank and so I shot her in the shoulder and knocked her out. I thought I could help but now they're both dead."

He heard Izabelle crying behind him and he felt guilty immediately. This wasn't what he had come to do. Hugging her to him, he murmured apologies until she stopped crying.

"I came here for a reason. Sorry."

She nodded and dried her eyes. "What is it?"

"I'm offering to marry you."

"What?!" If she had been made to guess what Forge was going to say, she would never have guessed _that_. She put a hand to her head in a characteristic gesture of disbelief. "Forge, we don't –"

"I know. But you have a baby and he should have a father. I'm not Hank but I'm _something_. It's not a romantic offer but … maybe it's something you could use." Forge's dark eyes poured into hers and she could see it was a very genuine offer. Izabelle thought it was one of the craziest things she had heard but at the same time it was tempting. Forge was a good man and she could never love anyone like she had loved Hank.

"I – I just –" she began.

"You don't have to answer now, or ever. It's simply utilitarian. But it's all I've got so I thought I would offer."

Izabelle felt relieved at these words. "Thank you."

Forge nodded. He hadn't smiled once this conversation and his offer had been stated very seriously. He gave her another tight hug and then left without another word.

Izabelle lay back against her pillows. The baby woke and she nursed him, murmuring soft words. She hadn't thought of all the effort it would take to raise a baby by herself. And it could be even harder depending on mutation. But she pushed those thoughts out of her head and held her son until he slept. She sat staring into the darkness as the sun went down and the room was illuminated only by a nightlight here and there.

Unaware of the hour, Izabelle became aware something was wrong only moments before the pounding began. Their door had been made out of a thick, solid wood after Colossus had torn it out of the wall and it now rattled and shook with the force someone was directing against it. The sound was deafening and Izabelle clutched at her son. If something had gotten through the security she was completely alone on this floor. Everyone had been ordered upstairs and would be asleep by now. Her hand reached under her pillow and pulled out a tazer Hank had insisted they have around (Izabelle had refused a gun).

The door caved in and the tazer fired. It attached itself uselessly to the matted fur of the gigantic shape in the door. A blue paw pulled it away, threw it to the floor, and stepped forward.

"Henry!" Izabelle's cry was full of every kind of emotion. She could hardly believe what she was seeing in the dim light and it was the best sight she could have ever dreamed up. She was almost afraid to go to him, for fear that he was not real or was simply a trick.

He flipped on the lights in the room and gave her a lopsided grin. "What? Is my wife now going to keep her distance? I can't smell _that_ bad."

It was all the confirmation that she needed that he was real and he was here. She put the baby in his bed and scrambled over her own bed, flinging herself into Hank's arms. He caught her but she did not miss the small sound of pain that escaped him; he was hugging her as tightly as he dared and she hugged his neck fiercely.

They broke apart and their lips met for a moment. But the kiss demonstrated why Hank's smile had been so lopsided; his lip was very swollen and tender. Izabelle pushed away from him a little and he set her down. She circled around him and realized just how injured he was: there was a huge bruise on his side indicating cracked ribs, there was a gash across his forehead that partly closed one eye, his lip had been busted but was healing, and he held his left arm (the one she had caught before he was swept away) very gingerly and close to his body.

Her eyes filled with tears and he pulled her back to him. It was no small miracle that he was still alive and it was clear how badly he had been hurt.

Sounds of running greeted their ears and Izabelle instinctively pushed Hank away from the door. She would not have anyone laying a hand on him in this condition other than herself. She waited in the door and Wolverine, Scott, Jean, and Kitty arrived her presence drew them up short.

"You're alright? Then what was that?" Wolverine asked gruffly, starting to feel foolish.

"More than alright," she answered and motioned them in.

Their reactions to seeing Hank there were much the same as her own. They were ecstatic but his physical state pained them as well. When Izabelle had been talking to them in the door he had picked up his sleeping son and the contrast of the huge man who had wrecked himself to save his tiny son brought everyone to tears all over again.

"What we need to do," Izabelle finally said to Jean when Hank was distracted, "is get Warren. Hank won't like it but if something internal is wrong..."

"Stronger mutants than Hank have benefited from Angel," Jean mused, nodding. "Call me when he falls asleep. I'll give him a transfusion then and he'll never know."

Izabelle thanked her and Jean motivated the others into leaving as well. It was agreed the school should know but should hold off on congratulations until the next day at least. As soon as everyone left, Izabelle curled up in bed with Hank. It was hard to believe he was there and she kept running her hands gently over his hands and arms and face.

"I thought I would die," she finally murmured.

"I thought I had died," Hank said just as quietly. He could not yet describe the horror of being tossed for hours with debris and bodies by the furious torrent of water.

"Our son still does not have a name," Izabelle pointed out, now focusing on the newborn in Hank's arms.

"You didn't name him what we agreed on?"

"I didn't think I could bear it."

"And now?"

Their eyes met and she smiled at him. "Now I think it is perfect."

* * *

><p>Their son was named Matthew. Hank healed up nicely and the baby grew without complications. Izabelle sustained an infection which then prevented her from having any more children. But neither of them really considered having anymore children once it was clear what Matthew's mutation was.<p>

Their son was blue but without fur and he had nearly unlimited strength. This was discovered when as a toddler he playfully threw his mother across a room. The very next thing his father and godfather (Forge) did was to invent an inhibitor for this insane amount of strength.

Fortunately, the boy had his father's gentle spirit and they were able to raise him to control and see the use in his powers. This made it all too clear, however, why the Morlocks had wanted him so badly; raised in a certain way he would be nearly as unstoppable as Juggernaut. His one Achilles' heel was that strong, uncontrolled emotion dampened his powers rather than adding to them. It was Izabelle's contribution to her son's genetics and it proved the Morlocks would have been very disappointed in their new leader.

The new family knew there would always be challenges and things would always be hard at times. But they were together and they had survived so much. Hank and Izabelle both felt that as long as they had one another and their son, there was always home and hope.


End file.
